Ripples
by CraftBucket
Summary: "Even though the drop, the event, caused so many disturbances, so many ripples," the teen opens his blue-green eyes and gives Regina a sad smile, "do you really wish it hadn't happened?" One small event can change an entire story.
1. Storybrooke, Maine it is

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_"Daniel, please?" Regina asked with a pout._

_"No, Regina. Your mother will kill me if she sees you. Literally, I think she'd do it," Daniel gulps nervously as he continues taking the saddle off of a tan horse. Regina huffed. Her mother had forbidden her from riding her horse, which was one of the few things Regina found pleasure in._

_"Please?" Regina persists, getting a little closer to Daniel, the straw crunching beneath her feet with every step she takes towards the stable boy._

_"No, Regina," Daniel says as he busied himself with fiddling with the saddle, pretending to be oblivious to the closing of the space between him and Regina._

_"Pretty please?" Regina puts a hand on one of Daniel's shoulders and rests her chin on his other. Daniel is extremely conscious of the little distance between them, Regina can easily tell. She tilts her chin so it is against his neck, that way her breath will lightly tickle his earlobe. She could see Daniel becoming putty in her hands, his legs were shaking slightly and he was fumbling with the straps of the horse's saddle. She slowly moves her mouth a bit closer to his ear._

_"Please?"_

_Daniel, with a slow exhale of the breath he was holding in, finally breaks and turns around to face her. "Fine," he grumbles as he begins to reattached the saddle he had just been taking off._

_"Yes!" Regina cheers as she hugs him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as an added bonus._

_"If your mother catches you though, I'm not taking any of the blame for this. I'll tell her you threatened me or stole the horse and saddled it yourself, or..." Daniel began rambling before Regina cut him off with a quick kiss._

_"You're the best and I love you, did I ever tell you that?" Regina grins as she mounts the horse after Daniel finishes preparing the saddle._

_He smiles as he shakes his head at her, "Only every day, Gina..."_

_SB...SB...SB...SB..._

_Regina quickly sat up in her bed. She was breathing heavy as she fought to hold back the tears. Through her blurry vision, she could barely make out the strange-looking room she was in. She could somewhat make out the wooden bed that she was sitting in. This room was nothing like hers! Regina began to grow angry and slightly worried._

_Then a revelation hit her._

_Regina darted up out of the bed and inspected the room more thoroughly. This room was...strange, to put it simply. It had strange patterns on the wall like she had never seen. The bedding didn't look like it was made by human hands. Possibly this world's version of magic created it? It didn't matter. Regina ran to the window and pulled back the curtains._

_Outside, she saw a town, the likes of which she had never seen before._

_An evil grin broke out on her face. "I did it," Regina mumbled to herself._

_Then the grin was gone._

But at what price?

OUAT...OUAT...OUAT...OUAT...

"Emma, I _really_ don't think this is a good idea," a chocolate-brown haired teenage boy muttered as he crouched behind the desk watching the doorway. His blue-green eyes quickly darted between the dark hallway and the blond-haired teen attempting to pick the lock on a safe. He sighed nervously and brushed his bangs out of his eyes as he continued watching the hallway. At any moment they could be caught, and he shuddered at the thought of what their foster parents would do to them if they were.

Emma hushed him, stuck a flashlight between her teeth and concentrated on picking the lock. She sent a glare over her shoulder at the boy when he continued to fidget due to his nervousness.

'Sorry,' the boy mouthed, stopped moving, and continued watching the doorway. Emma turned her attention back to the lock. Finding the flashlight to be more of a hindrance than help, Emma let the flashlight fall noiselessly from her mouth onto her lap. She slowly extended her leg behind her so it nudged the brown-haired boy.

"Jason," she whispered, "hold the flashlight for me." Jason nodded and quietly scooted over and took the flashlight. He turned it towards the lock and switched the flashlight on. With the light illuminating the lock, Emma continued to work.

Jason looked at the doorway and deemed it empty before turning back to watch Emma work. He didn't approve of this. Actually, he didn't approve of a lot of the things Emma did, but she promised that this was the last time. They were getting out of this; he had to agree with Emma, hell hole. Jason looks at the blond girl who was focused on the task at hand.

They had been found together along the highway. Emma and Jason had been abandoned as newborns and were put into the system at the same time. Being the same age, the authorities had originally thought them to be siblings, but DNA testing proved otherwise. Jason remembered growing up the foster system with Emma. The two of them had been inseparable since they were old enough to walk. Jason remembered being told by some of the older children in the foster system that when he and Emma were only a year and a half old, they had been separated by two different families. The other older kids got a good laugh when the foster families that had taken care of Emma and him separately brought them back about a week later claiming that they hadn't stopped crying since they departed. As soon as the two toddlers saw each other, they silenced their sobs and began giggling and trying to get to the other.

The two haven't been separated since.

The two teens had always looked out for one another. Jason had been the only person Emma had ever been comfortable trusting and being comforted by, which was probably only due to the two having been found together. Whenever Emma was picked on by the other children, Mysterious things would happen to the tormentor. Clothes and towels would go missing while the offender was in the shower, pins would be found on assigned seats, fish would be found in clothing drawers, and unfavorable pictures would be posted on every wall. No one was ever caught for these acts of vengeance, but Emma had a fair idea of who it was. Jason would always just shrug his shoulders and reply with, "I don't know," when Emma asked him.

When the two were six, the two moved in with a couple who were, to put it nicely, not very kind. The two were constantly assaulted with both physical and verbal abuse. Emma had received the worst of it. The husband would constantly come home drunk. Emma and Jason prayed each night that he would be too wasted to even remember that they existed. Unfortunately, this event was rare. The man would come home in a terrible mood and would take his anger out on the two children. The wife forced them to wear long-sleeved shirts and jeans to cover the bruises. She constantly assailed them with curses and names. It wasn't until an unscheduled visit from social services that the abuse ended, or at least from that family.

They had stayed with many other families, some abusive, some kind. Though in the end, they always felt alone, always felt unwanted. The only comfort they got was that which they received from each other, because they were all they had.

Emma's voice snapped Jason out of his memories, "I think I got it." Jason shook his head and looked at the doorway. Again, Jason received no sign that their foster family had woken up yet. They were probably too drunk to be able to bring themselves to consciousness anyway.

This family had been particularly brutal. They were a pair of drunkards and addicts who only used the two the gain money for their addictions. The husband was a member of one of the local gangs; Jason had no idea which one. When he wasn't out doing his "job" for the gang, he was getting drunk, or high, or both. The wife was almost never around, and when she was, she smelled of alcohol, cigarettes and sex. She never talked about her job, though Jason had some pretty solid assumptions about what it might be.

When the two were home, and sober, they constantly assaulted Jason and Emma. Threats were thrown about every ten minutes, curses were exchanged every minute, and insults were given every five seconds.

When they were not sober, however, things escalated. It was during these times that the two teens would retreat to their shared room and either wait it out or escape through the window. Sometimes, they were not so fortunate. Occasionally, the husband, in his drunken rage, would physically harm them. Slaps, punches, and kicks would be exchanged between the teens and the drunken man, though brute strength almost always won out, and the husband would stumble out of the room, leaving two physically and emotionally broken teens.

Emma let out a quiet hum of triumph as the safe opened with one last turn of the lock pick. "Got it," Emma whispered as her lips split into a grin. She reached inside and pulled out a wad of cash. Jason looked to the doorway and listened, satisfied when he still heard the snores of their two drunken foster parents.

"Emma, are you sure this is a good idea?" Jason asked again as she handed him one of the wads of paper money. Emma pulled out one last stack of money and slid it into her old, worn backpack. She glared at the boy, not with hatred but with slight annoyance.

"Jason, do you want to get out of here or not? Do you LIKE being constantly abused? Do you enjoy being in this pain?" Emma whispered to the blue-eyed boy.

"Of course not Emma, but what I am worried about is the authorities. What if they come looking for us? They will have reason to arrest us. I'm not saying that we will go to jail, I'm one hundred percent certain that we could convince a court that we're abused, but we will just be put back in the system," Jason sighed as he put a hand on Emma's shoulder.

"Jason, it's about a week until our eighteenth birthdays, do you really think anyone's going to care? Whether you like it or not, if we are going to get out of here, we need money. Besides, it's not like any of this was theirs in the first place," Emma slowly closed the safe. It latched quietly and the two teens stood up. "Besides, this is the last time, remember?" Emma smiled at Jason. "I promise that as soon as we are out of here, no more stealing. We are going to make it on our own, together, legally," Emma's grin grew wider when she opened a window and began climbing out. As Jason began moving towards the window, he stopped. On the table by the window, there was a small, fold up map of the United States. A smile appeared on the boy's face as he grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket. He surveyed the room one last time, listened to the loud, disgusting snores of his ex-foster parents, grinned and climbed out the window.

When his feet hit the ground, he felt something he never felt before. He realized now that he and Emma had the entire world in front of them. No more foster families to abuse them. No more moving from place to place just to stay with a family that didn't want them. No more foster system. No more alcohol and drug addicted adults.

They were free.

Jason felt an arm drape over his shoulder. He looked to his left and saw that Emma had the largest smile on her face that he had seen in years. "So, my friend, we have the entire country in front of us, about two thousand dollars in stolen, stolen cash, and are free, for the first time, to make our own choices. Dear Jason," Emma says with a mock bow, "where should we go first?"

_'Stolen, stolen cash, great.'_ Jason thinks but soon shakes it from his mind as a grin brakes onto his face. He pulls the map out from his pocket and unfolds it so the entirety of the map is showing "Where ever you want to go, I will follow."

Emma smiles, closes her eyes and points at the map. She opens her eyes and lifts her finger from the piece of paper. Emma smiles at Jason and he smiles right back at her.

"Storybrooke, Maine it is."


	2. You get Storybook

**Something I am trying to do is keep this story's format like that of the show's, meaning I am going to try to have part of it take place in the Enchanted Forest and part of it take place in Storybrooke.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_"When we reach the cell, stay out of the light" a guard said as he and three other cloaked figures rounded a corner. In one hand, he held a torch, which illuminated the dark passageways of the dungeon. The guard looked behind him at the three others. Two of the figures were roughly the same height; the third was shorter only by a few inches. They had their hoods up, so one could only barely make out their mouths. The guard with the torch continued on towards their destination. "And whatever you do, do not let him know your name." The guard looked back at the three following him, giving them a very serious stare. "If he knows your name, he will have power over you."_

_The three figures nodded slightly as they rounded the last corner and began approaching the cell. The bars of the cell looked like they were made of stalagmites and stalactites. The group could faintly make out a figure hanging from the bars of the cell._

_"Rumpelstiltskin." The guard growled as he approached the cage. The three cloaked figures stood back while he got the imp's attention. The imp either did not hear the guard or chose to ignore him. "Rumpelstiltskin!" The guard bellowed again. "I have a question for you."_

_The imp slowly began lowering himself to the floor. "No, you don't," the imp smiled devilishly as his feet landed on the floor. He leaned against the bars of the cell and pointed casually towards the three cloaked figures. "They do," the imp bows in a mocking manner, "Snow White and Prince Charming." The imp laughs at the two newlyweds. The two glanced at each other. After he was finished laughing, Rumpelstiltskin beckoned the two forward, "You insult me, step into the light and take off those ridiculous robes." _

_Snow White and Prince Charming slowly lowered their hoods. The remaining figure placed a hand on Snow's shoulder. She looked back at the figure who was shaking its head. "I have to," Snow whispered to the cloaked figure. It let its hand drop, though it dropped to its sword which it slowly pulled out of the sheath. Snow White, Prince Charming and the figure slowly approached the cell._

_"Ahh," the imp cackled, "isn't that much better?"_

_Prince Charming stepped forward threateningly, "We have come to ask you about the-"_

_"Yes, yes! I know why you're here!" The imp shouts at the prince. He smiled, "You want to know about the Queen's threat."_

_"Tell us what you know!" Snow White demanded. _

_Rumpelstiltskin laughed, "Ohh, tense aren't we?" The imp grinned. "Fear not," the imp declared while putting a finger in the air, "for I can ease your mind," His face moves closer to the cell bars. "But it's gonna cost you something in return."_

_"No!" Charming said angrily. "This is a waste of time."_

_Snow ignored him and moved closer to the bars, "What do you want?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin grinned wickedly, "Oh..." He says like it is nothing, "the name of your unborn child?"_

_Prince Charming is furious now, "Absolutely not!"_

_"Deal," Snow White said suddenly, "What do you know?"_

_"Ahh," the imp chuckles. He gets closer to the bars, so close his face is almost against the bars, "The Queen has created a powerful curse, and it is coming. Soon you will all be in a prison, just like me!" He says in a sing-song voice. "Only worse! Because your prison, ALL of our prisons, will be time." Rumpelstiltskin's voice lowers into a serious tone. "For time will stop, and we will be trapped someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love will be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity." The imp grins. "While the Queen celebrates, victorious and last!" He shouts and clenches his fist. His grin fades away as he says the last part, "No more happy endings."_

_"What can we do?" Snow asks as she moves closer to the imp._

_He just laughs and gestures to the people in the room, "WE can't do anything!"_

_A new voice was heard. "Who can?" Asked the voice of what sounded like a teenage boy. Everyone turned and laid eyes on the cloaked boy. The figure cocked his head to the side, and slowly began to take down its hood. Illuminated by the torchlight, the party saw a chocolate-brown haired teen with blue-green eyes. He had a determined look on his face. Rumpelstiltskin broke out into a grin and turned back to Snow._

_"That little thing growing inside your belly," he says as he reaches out and lays a hand on Snow's stomach. Charming draws his sword, but Rumpelstiltskin's hand had already been knocked away by the teenage boy with the hilt of his own sword._

_"Next time," the teenager growled, "I won't hesitate to cut it off!"_

_Rumpelstiltskin hissed as he quickly drew his hand back and held it, feeling the tender flesh that was undoubtedly going to bruise. He clicks his tongue and turns back to Snow, "The infant is our only hope. Get the child to safety! Get the child to safety and on it," he hesitates for a moment, "eighteenth birthday the child will return. The child will find you, and the final battle will begin!" The imp cackled before he suddenly stops and squeezes his eyes shut. Rumpelstiltskin forms a delighted smile as he turns to the blue-green eyed teen, "Oooh!" He jumps over to the opposite side of the cage, where the teen is standing, and leans against the bars. "Now this is interesting!"_

_The brown-haired boy jumps back and points his sword at the imp. Rumpelstiltskin laughs, "Oh relax, I can't do anything in here!"_

_"What do you want?" The boy growled as he slowly moved towards the cell. The imp laughs._

_"Nothing, nothing. I'm just curious as to how you will do it!"_

_"Do what?" The blue-eyed boy asks._

_Instead of giving into his curiosity, Rumpelstiltskin laughs and leans against the cage, "In due time, dearie." _

_Charming growls, "That's it, I've heard enough." Charming grabs Snow's hand and begins leading her away. Rumpelstiltskin laughs as the brown-haired teen joins them._

_"OH! Hey! Yoo-Hoo!" Rumpelstiltskin shouts after the retreating figures. "Hey! You! We made a deal!" He shouts angrily after them. "I want her name! We made a deal!" He shouts, beginning to throw a tantrum. "I need her name! Her name!" He shouts._

_"'Her?'" Charming asks as he glances back at the imp one last time. "It's a boy."_

_Rumpelstiltskin laughs and calls after Snow, "Missy! Missy, you know I'm right! Tell me, what's her name?" _

_Snow turns around to face Rumpelstiltskin. She seems to have conflicting thoughts raging through her mind. Finally, she makes her choice, "Emma, her name is Emma."_

_The four figures in cloaks walk away, leaving Rumpelstiltskin to his own accords. Still standing with his face pressed against the bars, Rumpelstiltskin smiles. "Emma," he whispers before letting out a loud laugh the echoes through the dungeon. "Emma!" He shouts._

_Emma_

_Emma_

_Em-ma_

_Her name bounces off the walls of the dungeon as Rumpelstiltskin climbs back up the bars of the cell towards the ceiling. A large toothy grin appears on the imp's face._

_"Emma and the sorcerer boy..."_

_SB...SB...SB...SB..._

Emma sighed contentedly as she pulled the covers of the bed up around her. It had been a long week since she and Jason had run away. She highly doubted that their ex-foster family would send anyone after them, unless they wanted a full-scale investigation on their hands in which they could very well be caught with their drug problem.

Emma felt the weight of the bed shift ever so slightly. Jason must be getting up. Emma didn't find it strange that they were sleeping in the same bed. In fact, they had done it for a couple of years anyway since the bad foster families usually provided only one bed. Also, she wouldn't tell him this, he made her feel safe.

The two had been slowly making their way up state towards Storybrooke. On the way, they had enjoyed some of the luxuries of life they had been deprived of. They had gotten good rooms at local inns and motels and had enjoyed themselves. Storybrooke was only a few hours away, but Jason had decided that they should spend the night at an inn instead of arriving in town late into the night. Besides, today was both of their eighteenth birthdays, and what would be a better present than starting over?

"Emma," she hears Jason whisper in her ear, "wake up." Emma groans and turns over to her other side. She hears Jason laugh. "Well fine, I guess I'll just have to eat our birthday breakfast by myself."

Since both of them were too tired to have dinner last night, this statement caught Emma's attention. She opened her eyes and sat up in bed. At the foot of the bed, she saw a large platter of eggs, pancakes, sausages, oranges and juice. Emma rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at Jason, who was wearing a white t-shirt and grey sweat pants. He smiled at her and gave her a hug, "Happy Birthday Emma."

Emma's face split into a smile. "Happy Birthday to you too," she says as she returns his embrace.

He pulls away and pokes her nose, a gesture that use to make her laugh when she was little. "Well come on," he gestures to the platter before them, "The food is going to get cold." And with that, they enjoy their birthday breakfast in peace.

SB...SB...SB...SB...

Mary Margaret Blanchard was having, to put it simply, a very, very good day. She woke up feeling refreshed and energized, she had the time to enjoy a nice hot chocolate, with cinnamon, and her class was completely engrossed in the lesson she was teaching about birds and about building bird houses.

Mary Margaret smiled as she walked in between the desks of her classroom, holding in her hands a small blue bird. "As we build our birdhouses remember, what you are building is a home, not a cage," she tells her students as she surveys their work. She walks towards the window and turns back to her class. She gently holds the bird up for her class to see as she continues, "The bird is free and will do what it will. This is for them, not us." She smiles as she turns to the window. "They are loyal creatures," she explains to her class as she releases her gentle grip of the bird. The blue bird hops on her hand for a while before flying off towards a blue bird house in a tree not far away.

"If you love them and they love you," she turns back to her class who is amazed with what she had just done. "They will always find you," she finishes with a grin. Then the bell rang and all the students began scrambling to get out of their seats and head for the door. "We will pick this up after recess. No running!" she calls after the kids.

Mary Margaret walks over to her desk and begins grading a few papers, but looks up to see August, a boy with messy red hair standing at the window. He was fairly short for the children in his grade. August was the son of Marco, the town's handy man. August looked to be in deep concentration, he seemed to be watching for something. "August?" Mary Margaret says his name, breaking his concentration.

August looks at his teacher before looking back out the window. A quizzical look forms on the teacher's face as she walks over to him and looks out the window, following his gaze towards the road the leads out-of-town. "What are you looking for, August?" Mary Margaret asks the boy.

August looks up at her with a large grin on his face. "Something very important is happening today Ms. Blanchard," he replies, "and I don't want to miss it." He continues looking out the window.

"What is this important thing you are looking for?" Mary Margaret asks.

"Something I have waited a long time for," is the only reply August gives. He glances out the window one more time before letting out a sigh. "See you after recess Ms. Blanchard!" August calls as he walks out the door. Mary Margaret watches him go.

August was a very bright child, though he never seemed to be very enthusiastic about much. That was the largest grin Mary Margaret had seen on his face in a long time, he must really believe that today is important.

Mary Margaret glances out the window and looks towards the town entrance. After a few moments, she simply shrugs her shoulders and returns to her desk to start eating her lunch.

SB...SB...SB...SB...

"You know, out of all the places we could have gone, you chose the one with the strangest name. Who names a town Storybrooke anyways?" Jason laughs as he walks up to a large sign along the road. The sign had a simple white background with brown cursive writing that said "Welcome to Storybrooke."

Emma laughed at her friend's foolishness as he pretended to pose by the sign as if she was going to take a picture of him. She made her fingers into the shape of a rectangle and "snapped" a picture of him leaning against the sign with two fingers raised. "Jason, you are so weird," she laughed as she continued walking down the road towards the town.

Jason always started acting weird when he was excited about something, be it something little or something important. Either way, he never ceased to make Emma smile.

"Come on," Emma looked back at the teen who was inspecting the sign very intently. "Jason?"

"Emma..." he says slowly like he had just realized something.

"What?" Emma says as she walks back over to him. She stands next to him and looks at the sign. She looks at Jason. He was still staring at the sign in awe. "Jason, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I just realized something..." Jason muttered with a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"W-what?" Emma asks as she looks at him.

Jason slowly turns around to face her. He looks as if he had just made the most important revelation of his life. He looked her dead in the eye and said in a very serious tone:

"If you take two letters out of there, you get storybook."

Emma opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it. She looked him in the eye.

Then she smacked him over the head with her hand.

"Jason, what is wrong with you?" Emma mutters to herself and shakes her head. Jason just laughs as she picks up a twig and throws it at him before continuing towards town.

SB...SB...SB...SB...

August Booth was ecstatic. He leaned against the fence of the playground as he looked at the clock tower. The people of the town had looked at that clock tower and have seen 8:15 for as long as they can remember. To them, the clock was simply broken. But, not to August. August knew for a fact that the clock wasn't moving because time was frozen. That clock hadn't moved for eighteen years, because time has been frozen for that long. But today was different.

Today, the Saviour was coming home.

August had been prepared for this day for so long. For all he could tell, he and he alone knew the truth. Only he knew that this town was cursed. Only he knew that everyone in this town was what this world considered "fairytale" characters. For example, he knew he was Pinocchio. He knew his father Marco Booth was Geppetto. He knew that the teacher he has had for eighteen years, Ms. Mary Margaret Blanchard was actually Snow White.

He also knew for a fact that the Mayor, Ms. Regina Mills, was the Evil Queen. She was the one who caused all this. She was the one who ripped away everyone's happy endings. She thought that she finally had her victory.

August knew differently.

The Evil Queen hadn't counted on Snow White and Prince Charming's child being able to break the curse. She hadn't counted on a lot of things, and he knew exactly how to break this curse, but in order to do so, he needed the two people who were coming to town today.

Or else, the happy endings were never coming back.

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

"_This is going to happen unless we do something," Prince Charming says exasperated to the members of his war council. Sitting around the round table were many of his most trusted friends and allies. To his left sat many of his knights, to his right sat Snow. Besides her sat the brown-haired, blue-eyed teen who looked deep in thought. Next to him sat the seven dwarfs and after them came Geppetto. On the floor by him sat an eight year old Pinocchio who was carving a whale out of a slab of wood. Then came Granny and Red._

"_There's no point..." Snow cuts him off. She has a dazed look in her eyes. She looks as if everything is hopeless, which in truth, was a very real possibility at the moment. She looks at Prince Charming and shakes her head, "The future is written," she says sadly._

"_No, I refuse to believe that," Prince Charming says. "Good can't just lose," he explains._

"_Maybe it can," Snow mumbles and turns away from him._

"_No, no. Not as long as we have each other," Prince Charming tells Snow as he looks her in the eye._

_The brown-haired teen shakes his head, "Snow, if you believe what Rumpelstiltskin said, about the curse, you also have to believe in your child. You have to believe that she will come back," he explains as he moves his long bangs out of his eyes._

"_She will be the Saviour," Prince Charming assures Snow with a smile. _

_Suddenly, the banging of doors is heard and everyone turns to see some of the guards coming in with the trunk of a tree. "What the hell is this?" Prince Charming asks with a tone of annoyance._

"_It's our only hope of saving that child," the Blue Fairy answers as she flies towards the table._

"_Our fate rests on a tree?!" Grumpy says incredulously. "Let's go back to the fighting thing," he says._

_The Blue Fairy glares at Grumpy before turning back to Snow and the Prince. "The tree is enchanted," she explains, "If made into a vessel it can ward off any curse." She turns to the old carpenter. "Geppetto, can you build such a thing?"_

_Geppetto nods and ruffles his Pinocchio's hair. "Me and my boy, we can do it," he affirmed. _

_The Blue Fairy turns back to Snow and Charming. "This will work, we all must have faith."_

_Snow and Charming look at each other and smile._

"_There is, however, a catch," the Blue Fairy's nervous interruption ends their happy celebration._

"_Which is?" the brown-haired teen asked the question which no one wanted to hear the answer to._

"_The enchantment is indeed powerful," she explains, "but all power has its limits." She frowns sadly. "This tree can protect two, but..." she gulps nervously, "neither can be any older than a year of age."_

_Prince Charming looks at Snow White, both look absolutely devastated. They were going to have to give up their child, and she would have no one to guide her. Who would protect her? Who would guide her back to them? How could they give up their child, knowing she would be in a world with unknown dangers?_

"_I think," they hear the brown-haired teen begin, "I may have a solution." Snow and Charming look at the eighteen year old male sitting next to Snow. "Though I think it would be best if we discussed this in private," he says. "It's not that I don't trust anyone here, they are all trusted friends, but I think this is a matter that I should talk to you two alone about." _

_Snow looks at Charming who nods. He turns to the remaining people at the table. "Alright everyone, this meeting is adjourned. We will discuss this further tomorrow." _

_As soon as everyone had left the room, the guards closed the doors and the three were alone._

_Snow and Charming looked at the teenage boy with hope in their eyes. The teen looked like he was trying to decide something. Prince Charming finally asked the question they were dying to know._

"_Alright, what do you have in mind?"_

SB...SB...SB...SB...

"I think that this place looks really nice," Jason states as he and Emma finally enter the town.

"We are finally here," Emma smiles as she takes in the small town for the first time. Emma always wanted to live in a small town, a place where the residents were closely knit and knew each other. She wanted to live in a place where she was accepted. Now, she might finally get that. "I think it's perfect," Emma smiles at Jason.

"Yes, nice choice Emma Swan," Jason grins and gives her a quick side hug. "So," he declares as he opens his backpack to look at their remaining funds. "We have about enough money remaining to get us a few weeks of lodging at any conventional inn, at least we do after you take out a sum of money to get us a few pairs of clothes and some food," Jason explains. He zipped his backpack up and slung it over his shoulder.

"Well then, that should probably give us enough time to find jobs," Emma says with a nod. "We should probably find a motel or something first though."

"Alright then!" Jason grins as he grabs Emma's hand. "Let's go!" he declares childishly and spins around, accidentally knocking over a kid in the process. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry kid," Jason quickly apologizes as he helps the red-headed child up.

Emma crouches down so she was on the kid's level. "You okay kid?" she asks.

The child looks quickly between the two teenagers. He looks at Emma before asking the question that would change both Emma's and Jason's lives.

"What's your name?"

Emma gives the kid a small smile, "My name is Emma Swan, this klutz," she indicates to Jason who feigns offence, "is Jason Fay. We're new in town. What's your name kid?"

The red-headed boy smiles brilliantly, "My name is August Booth, and I am so glad you decided to come to Storybrooke."

**Sorry about all the jumping around I did in that chapter. I will try to do less in the future...**

**So Jason isn't Pinocchio, huh? I did leave a hint about his identity in this chapter, see if you can find it! :)**

** I'll try to do a chapter a week, but chapters may come slower or faster than that, depends on how I feel and how much homework I get.**

**Reviews are always welcome! CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is included in that! :)**


	3. Fay-Swan? Are You Two Married?

**Sorry guys! It was late when I posted this chapter so I didn't realize that part of it, the end, was missing. Sorry!**

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**Thank you so much for the feedback! :) It really makes my day to read your reviews and they do inspire me to write more!**

**So let's see, where did we leave off? Right! Jason bumped into little August/Pinocchio, who remembers the Enchanted Forest! Hmm, how do you think that happened?**

**But if Jason isn't Pinocchio, who is he? Hmmm…**

**Lola: Thanks! Neither of Jason's personas, our world or the Enchanted Forest, are in the show so yes, he is an Original Character, but his Enchanted Forest persona is a character from a fairytale. August/Pinocchio will be taking Henry's place in the story. As much as I love the kid, he wouldn't fit into the time frame of the story. And don't worry, how August remembers will be explained soon. :)**

**One more thing, to make it easier to understand when and where things are happening, I am making a key:**

**EF…EF…EF…EF… - Means the following will take place in the Enchanted Forest**

**SB…SB…SB…SB… - Means the following will take place in Storybrooke**

_**Something in all Italics takes place in the past.**_

**Regular print takes place in the present**

'_**This is a thought'**_

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

_EF…EF…EF…EF…_

_Regina felt, to put it simply, absolutely horrible. Her head was pounding and she felt absolutely sick to her stomach. She didn't want to be here, and she most certainly didn't want to have these servants dressing her in this god-awful, too tight wedding dress. Regina couldn't complain though._

_She just didn't have it in her._

_The fight was gone from her eyes. Any life that once filled Regina's eyes completely abandoned her when life left Daniel's. She could still picture that horrible scene. Regina holding Daniel's convulsing body as her mother ground the stable boy's heart into dust. She could still hear Daniel's chokes and moans as his heart was squeezed harder and harder. Regina had begged her mother to stop, but she hadn't listened. Soon enough, Daniel was nothing more than an empty shell._

_Her mother hadn't just torn out Daniel's heart that day; she had torn out hers._

"_Love is weakness, Regina," her mother had told her. _

_Regina felt devoid of life as the finishing touches were being performed on her dress. "Wow…" she heard from behind her. Regina stopped breathing when she heard that voice, that stupid, naïve young voice that had cost her everything. Regina slowly looked behind her, seeing a seven-year-old Snow White appear. The child had a look of wonder and amazement as she gazed at the too be Queen. "You are most certainly the fairest of the all!" The young Snow White said with a smile. Regina grimaced; Snow's voice was not helping her headache at all._

_Regina put on a fake smile. "Thank you, dear," she forced out. She had to restrain herself. She felt nothing for that girl, even if she was to be her stepmother. No, she didn't feel nothing, she felt hatred. She felt pure hatred towards the girl that had ruined her life._

_Snow smiled at Regina as she gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you are going to be my stepmother," Snow admitted into Regina's dress. Regina gave her a fake smile a gently pushed her away. _

_When Snow gave her a questioning look, Regina replied with, "I'm sorry, dear. I just feel a bit nauseated." Snow nodded and headed for the door. Right as she was about to head out, she turned back to Regina and gave her a large grin._

"_I bet it's just butterflies in your tummy. I always get them before a public event," Snow assures before exiting the room and quietly latching the door. _

_Regina did nothing to hide her glare after Snow had left the room._

_Regina was most certainly not nervous._

SB…SB…SB…SB…

Jason grinned at August as he finished shaking his hand. He seemed like a nice kid, a tad familiar too. Jason just shrugged it off; he had met a lot of kids in his time in the system. It wouldn't be too hard to believe if he had met another kid like the redhead. Then he realized something. "Hey August, shouldn't you be at school?" August looked down ashamedly.

"Ya," Emma added. "I mean it's like," she glanced at the clock tower, "eight fifteen?" Emma gave August a questioning look.

August looked at the ground. Now that the time was here, now that the Saviour had finally come to save them, how was he supposed to tell her that time was frozen here? He smiled sheepishly back up at the teens and gave them the best answer he could come up with in five seconds.

"Time's frozen here." He said simply.

The teens stared at the kid for a few seconds. Then they looked at each other, then at the clock tower, then back at August,

"Frozen?" Emma asks him as if she hadn't heard right.

"Yup," August nodded, popping the 'p.'

Jason gave him a questioning look, "Time is…frozen?" he said slowly.

"Mhhhm," the boy affirmed.

"Kid, are you sure the clock tower isn't just broken?" Emma said while shaking her head. August frowned; this isn't what was supposed to happen. The Saviour was supposed to come and break the curse, not ask him questions! _'Although,'_ August thinks, _'it IS a lot to take in.'_ "Anyway, back to the question. Shouldn't you be in school?" Emma asked.

August looked at his shoes. "Umm, maybe?" he says slightly embarrassed. In truth, he really didn't want to go back; there was work to be done! Then again, August knew that he was going to have to slowly integrate them into the fact that everyone here was a fairytale character. It was going to take a while, but August had waited eighteen years. What was a little while longer?

"Come on, August," Jason says with a smile, "let's get you to school." He laughed when August groaned and adjusted his backpack. When August turned to start heading towards school, he hadn't realized that his backpack had become unzipped, causing its contents to spill out onto the ground.

The two teenagers squatted down to help him pick up his stuff, handing August notebooks and pencils which the boy stuffed into his book bag. Emma lifted up a blue and black Batman notebook and revealed a large, old, brown covered book.

The books cover was fairly simple; it was brown with a golden line traveling around the border of the book. The words "Once Upon a Time" were written on the color in a fancy font. "What's this?" Emma asked as she handed the book to August.

"I'm not sure you two are ready," came the boy's reply as he took the book back.

"Not ready for some fairytales?" Jason laughed as the trio began to walk towards the school.

"They aren't fairytales," August explained casually. He looked over his shoulders at the two teens who shared a confused glance. "Everything that happened in this book is true. Everything actually happened."

Emma rolled her eyes at the boy, "Of course they did, kid." She grinned at him when August stopped and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Here's the thing about me, August. I may not be good at a lot of things, but I can do one thing. Let's call it a superpower. I can tell when anyone is lying to me," Emma explained to the boy who smiled smugly.

"Alright then," he said, unfolding his arms, "tell me that I'm lying then. Use your superpower." August stuck his hands in his pocket and smirked at Emma. The teenage girl searched his face for any indication that he was lying to her.

The ability to tell if people were lying proved to be very handy in the system, especially when she was playing games with the other foster kids. They learned very quickly not to play any sort of gambling game with her. Not only could she tear right through the best poker face, but any lie she told she could masked completely. She still remembered, and always will remember, the look on Jason's face when she told him she could tell if someone was lying. Even weeks after she confessed her "powers" to him, he was still grumbling about how she "should have told me BEFORE we played strip poker." She could see the change in posture, speech and expression as soon as someone started lying to her, and frankly, she didn't see any of the indications in the little boy.

"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true," Emma grumbles in defeat. Jason laughs out loud at his friend's loss.

A genuine smile appears on the red-headed boy's face. "That's exactly what makes it true," August explains as they near the school doors. "You two should know more than anyone," he says as he turns to the two as his hand grasps the door handle.

"And why is that?" Jason asks.

August smiles, "Because you two are in it."

Emma shakes her head and laughs a little. "Oh, kid," she sighs, "you've got problems."

August nods his head, "Yup, and you guys are gonna fix them. See ya!" August throws the door opens and runs into the school, dropping the storybook in the process.

"Hey, kid, August!" Jason shouts after him, "You dropped your book!"

"Jason," Emma lets out a short laugh, "he dropped it on purpose."

Jason stoops down and picks up the book. "That little sneak," he says as he lets out a sigh before turning to Emma. "Come on," he says as he puts the book in the backpack that also contained their funds, "Let's go find somewhere to eat, I'm starving."

_EF…EF…EF…EF…_

_Regina felt horrible. It has been a week since her wedding to the king. Like most people on their wedding night, Regina didn't get much sleep, or pleasure for that matter. _

_Saying she felt nauseated was an understatement. She felt like the little she had in her stomach would be reappearing at any given moment. She groaned as her head pounded against her skull. She hated feeling sick, now more than ever because on top of a recent wedding to a man she doesn't love, having her true love's heart ripped out, and being mother to the girl who destroyed her life, Regina was sick._

_She did notice that she was acting strangely though. She was having terrible mood swings. Sometimes she would be seething with rage, forcing herself not to kill Snow White, the next, she and that retched child would be laughing joyfully at some random event. She hated it._

_Regina excused herself from the presence of her husband, and decided that she would feel better if she went to go lie down. _

_Regina grimaced as she walked through the halls of the castle. The rays of light from the late afternoon sun were at the perfect angle to get in her eyes, making her already terrible headache worse. She continued towards her room, taking a corridor which would lead he right past to kitchens. The smells of the cooked breads and roasting meat made her sick to her stomach. _

_When Regina entered her room, she quickly headed to her bed and lied down. She was exhausted. Even though she has been getting a normal amount of sleep, Regina always feels fatigued. _

_After about an hour of rest, Regina opens her eyes when she hears the door slowly creak open. "Regina?" She hears a soft voice. Regina sighs, 'it's that retched child again,'_

"_Yes, dear?" Regina asks as she slowly turns on her side to face the young Snow White. The girl slowly walks into the room and smiles softly at her step mother._

"_I heard you were not feeling well, so I made you some tea," Snow said softly. She approached Regina and handed her the cup. Regina quietly thanked her before taking a sip. Although she didn't want to tell the girl this, the tea did wonders for her aches. She felt so much better._

_When Snow saw that Regina was eagerly drinking the tea, she smiled and decided to make her leave. Right before she left the room she turned back to Regina and laughed quietly. "You know, it's funny," she said, "my father told me that he use to give this to my mother when she was pregnant. It did wonders for her." Snow simply smiled before leaving the room. _

_Regina suddenly stopped drinking the tea._

'_No, no it couldn't be,' Regina thought to herself. Then she elaborated on the past week. Her eyes widened._

_Her period was late…_

SB…SB…SB…SB…

Emma felt her stomach grumble as she and Jason got closer to the local diner. On a simple sign outside that simply read "Granny's" in a neat font. Jason gave her a mock bow as he opened the door. "For you, my lady," he grins up at her as she listened to the tinkling bell on top of the door.

Emma shakes her head as she walks in. "Jason, you are impossible," she mutters trying to suppress a laugh.

Jason just shrugs, "It's in my nature."

Emma looks around the diner. It was a fairly simple design, had a couple of booths with a few people sitting at them, some laughing at jokes, others just chatted amicably. They looked, to tell the truth, fairly happy. Emma could already tell that the community was fairly close knit, she could see it in the way everyone greeted each other.

"You can seat yourselves; someone will be over in a minute!" came a call from the kitchen.

The two teenagers walked over to an empty booth. Emma slid in and proceeded to look at the menu. Jason sat down across from her. "Umm, Emma?" he whispered.

"Yes?" Emma replied, not taking her eyes off of the menu. She was trying to figure out whether she should get a hot chocolate or a coffee for a drink.

"Everyone is staring at us," Jason muttered quietly. Emma looked up from the menu to find many pairs of poorly concealed eyes looking at the two newcomers. Suddenly, a voice captures everyone's ear.

"Hey! Haven't you seen teenagers before?" A teenage girl appears by their table glaring at the other customers. It took all of half a second before everyone went back to their own business. "That's what I thought," the girl muttered. She was about the same height as Emma, give or take a few inches. She had brown hair with red highlights and she had lipstick on that resembled the color of cherries. Her clothes, if they could be called that, were fairly skimpy. Her shirt barely came to her abdomen and her skirt was pretty revealing. "Sorry about them," the girl apologized, "we don't see many new faces around here."

"It's alright," Jason says as he flashes a grin. "I'm Jason, by the way," he says as he extends his hand in greeting, "and she's Emma."

"Name's Ruby," she winks as she takes his hand. They shake their hands in greeting, but when Jason tries to pull it away, Ruby holds it for a bit longer than he is comfortable with. Jason laughs awkwardly when she lets go of his hand. "So what can I get ya to start with? Drinks?" the flirtatious waitress asks with a smirk towards Jason.

"Uhh…" came Jason's brilliant response.

"Hot chocolate, two, with cinnamon please." Emma says quickly in an unfriendly way. Ruby laughs at her response and writes something on her notepad.

"Coming right up," she smiles, spins on her heels, and walks towards the kitchen.

Once the waitress was gone, Jason looked at the blond and grinned. Emma was glaring at her menu with such intensity that Jason wouldn't be surprised if it caught on fire. "What's the matter, Swan?" He asks casually and looks at his own menu. He peels at her over his menu and smirks. "Jealous?"

Emma scoffs and kicks him under the table. "Of course not, stupid," she laughed and smiled sweetly at him, "I'm just looking out for your wellbeing."

The smirk falls of Jason's face at her response, "My 'wellbeing'? What's that supposed to mean?" he asks, setting his menu down.

Emma smiles at him and places her hand on his. "Oh, dear, sweet, naïve, Jason," Emma starts with the shake of her head, "we both know that without me you would be living a terrible life." Jason's jaw falls open. "You just don't have what it takes to make it in the world," Emma states simply as she takes her hand away.

Immediately after, Ruby came along with their drinks. "Here you go," she says and sets the two hot chocolates down. "You two ready to order?" she asks.

Emma grins at the waitress, "Yup, I think we will just have two turkey sandwiches, no tomatoes, thanks."

"Sure thing," she says with a smile. Ruby sees Jason staring at Emma incredulously and laughs. She winks at Emma and mouths 'Good job.

Emma smiles and takes a sip of her hot chocolate. "Jason," she smiles and lifts his jaw up so his mouth closes, "you're going to catch flies."

As soon as his mouth closes, Jason shakes his head. In mock anger, he takes his mug of hot chocolate and stands up. He takes a few steps backwards. "I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" he declares childishly and turns around, accidentally spilling his hot drink all over a woman.

Jason's eyes widen as he realizes what he has just done. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Jason quickly apologizes and grabs a few napkins from a nearby table. "I am so sorry!" he apologizes again and hands her the napkins.

"Why you insolent little-!" the older woman start but then stops suddenly. Jason looks at the woman. She had black hair that almost reached her shoulders, but instead curled backwards. She had brown eyes and was wearing blood red lipstick. She looked absolutely enraged. Jason winced. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, and I was trying to prove to her that I could take care of myself and I got up too fast, and I shouldn't have been carrying my hot chocolate and-" Jason started rambling.

Ruby leaned over to Emma and whispered, "He is going to be in huge trouble. That's Regina, the mayor." Emma had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

Jason continued to ramble until the mayor held up her hand. Jason looked at her. She didn't look enraged any more. Instead, she looked like she had seen a ghost. Then again, she did have this familiar feeling about her…

Everyone was expecting the worst. "No," she said to the astonishment of many, "it's quite alright."

"I mean, are you sure?" Jason lets out nervously.

"Yes," the mayor says uneasily. "It's my fault; I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Are you sure? I can pay for it if you want," Jason tries to reason. In the back of his mind, he knows Emma will kill him if he starts things off badly for them.

"What's your name?" the black haired mayor asked him. Jason was taken back.

'_Crap,'_ he thought, _'she's going to write up a complaint! Then the police will get involved, and we have stolen money.'_

"Uhh, Jason. J-Jason Fay," he muttered, scared out of his wits.

Jason heard Ruby gasp a little when the woman supported a small smile. "Mayor Regina Mills. Welcome to Storybrooke, Mr. Fay," she nodded a bit before walking out, leaving the teenager to wonder what had just happened.

When he sat down, Emma smacked him over the head, again. "You klutz!" she said in between laughs, "Great job spilling hot chocolate on the mayor!"

Jason banged his head on the table. "Shut up, Swan."

'_Why does she seem familiar?'_

_EF…EF…EF…EF…_

_She would never admit it, but Regina was scared out of her wits. Regina glanced down at her ever growing stomach. She knew nothing about being a mother, and hers was less than a suitable role-model._

_Regina let out a slight gasp when she felt something she had never felt before. It felt strange and slightly painful. She put her hand on her stomach when she felt it again. She sat down on her bed and a small smile split her face._

_The baby was kicking._

_It was exhilarating, knowing that there was a living thing growing inside of her. She was responsible for something, for someone. She was excited. She was going to have a person in her life that she could love unconditionally, something she had been deprived of, and someone who would return that love to her. Her grin widened when the baby kicked again._

_The door creaked open to show King Leopold stepping into the room, quickly followed by the young Snow White. "Regina," he smiled, "how are you feeling?" The king asks._

"_Well, my lord," comes Regina's simple reply. She gives him her best fake smile. The young Snow runs and jumps up on the bed next to Regina._

_The girl smiles up at her with the largest smile. "Is the baby moving yet?" Snow asks with excitement glinting in her eyes._

_Regina did not know if she was just in a good mood or if it was the hormones kicking in, but the older woman couldn't help but smile at the young girl. She took the child's hand and gently laid it on her enlarged stomach. The ever growing baby must have sensed the girl's hand, for after a few moments it kicked her stomach with all of its might. _

_Snow's face lit up when she felt the kick under her hand. "I'm going to be a sister," she says happily. Regina smiled at the girl. If she didn't hate the girl so much, Regina believed they would have gotten along well._

_The King smiled fondly at his daughter. "Come along, Snow," he says gently to the girl, "let us let Regina rest."_

_Snow nods before giving Regina a final, genuine smile and leaving the room, followed by her father. _

_Regina frowned after the pair had left. Some was slightly inaccurate about Snow White's statement._

'_Yes, she is going to have a sibling,' Regina thought, 'but they won't be related by blood.'_

_Regina already knows; Leopold isn't the father._

SB…SB…SB…SB…

After they had finished eating, Jason and Emma decided to try and ask around about the local inn. Ruby walked over. "You guys done eating?" she asked.

"Ya, we'll take the check," Emma says to the waitress.

As Ruby handed the receipt to Jason, the blue-green eyed teen said, "I have a quick question."

"Shoot," Ruby says and places her hand on her hip.

"Do you happen to know where we might be able to find somewhere to stay until we can find someplace more permanent?" Jason asked as he pulled enough money to pay for his and Emma's lunch as out of his wallet.

Ruby grinned. "Well, it just so happens the Granny also owns the Bed and Breakfast, here so we can set you guys up with a room."

"Great," Emma grinned as they stood up to follow Ruby.

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_"Come on, Regina, push!" the nurse said while wiping Regina's face with a rag. Retina screamed out in pain as another contraction caused her extreme amounts of pain. She absolutely hated it._

_She hears the King's voice out in the hallway. She can't make out what she was saying, nor did she care. Next thing she knew, the door creaked open and Snow White slipped in. One of the nurses saw the young princess and attempted to shoo the girl out. "What are you doing in here? You shouldn't be in here!"_

_The young princess ignored her and walked towards Regina. The small girl gave the older woman a reassuring smile. Regina let out another pained filled scream as she pushed again. Regina decided that she hated childbirth, this was the last time._

_Hours later, Regina took multiple deep breaths. It was over 'Finally,' she thought. The nurse walked over to her side with the crying newborn in her arms. Regina smiled brightly as the nurse handed her the little bundle. Regina held the crying baby close to herself. The sobbing child soon quieted and opened its eyes to look up at its mother. It had brown eyes. _

_"Congratulations, my lady," the nurse said with a smile, "it's a baby girl."_

_"Morgan," Regina says as she continues to stare at the baby, "Morgan le Fay."_

_Suddenly, Regina felt a terrible pain shoot through her again._

_Dear Lord._

_It was another contraction._

SB...SB...SB...SB...

"Granny!" Ruby shouted as the trio walked into the bed and breakfast. "We have customers!"

The older woman walked into the room with an incredulous look on her face. She looked at the two teenagers. "Really?" she asked as if she had heard wrong. She shook her head and smiled, "Of course!" She walks into the back room as the two approach the front desk. "What exactly are you two looking for? Would you like two separate rooms or one room?" Granny asks as she returns and drops a book onto the desk. A cloud of dust appears afterwards, making Jason sneeze.

"One room's fine," Emma replies. Granny writes something down I'm the book before she looked back up to catch their eyes.

"Can I get a name?" She asks

"Fay. Swan," Jason replies casually.

"Fay-Swan?" The woman asks with an eyebrow raised, "Are you two married?"

Emma feels warmth rush to her cheeks, and she sees Jason's turn crimson. He chuckles nervously.

"N-no, we aren't married, just best friends," Jason says while he rubs the back of his neck. The woman nods before handing a key to Emma.

"Welcome to Storybrooke," She says with a smile.

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_Regina was angry, and slightly nervous, but mostly angry. She did not want to present her children to the kingdom; they were her children, not theirs. Regina grumbled as she was led to the balcony, which oversaw a huge courtyard in which the common folk gather when there is a royal announcement. Regina looked at her husband who cleared his throat before beginning. "Dear people," King Leopold's royal majestic sounded throughout the courtyard, "I come bearing most joyous news today! Yesterday, my new wife and Queen bore children. Our family is expanded, and I will allow her to introduce them."_

_Regina cleared her throat and gave the crowd her best, fake smile. "Dear citizens," she said, "it is my pleasure and honor to introduce to you the newest members of our family." Regina turns to a nurse who hands her the baby girl. Morgan was dressed in a purely white dress that rippled and flowed in the wind. The child smiled at her mother and reached her short, chubby arms out for her mother. Regina picked up baby Morgan and lifted her up for the crowd to see. "Morgan le Fay."_

_The crowd cheered at the sight of the new princess. The noise caused the baby to widen its eyes and look across the crowd. After the applause subsided, Regina handed her daughter back to the nurse. Another nurse handed her a small, carefully wrapped bundle. _

_Regina slowly pulled back the blanket so she could get a look at the child underneath. It was a boy. The child slowly opened its eyes and yawned. Regina smiled down at him when she saw his blue-green eyes. She raised the child up for the crowd to see. The crowd got silent as they anxiously awaited the announcing of the child's name._

_"It is a pleasure to introduce to you," Regina said, "this family's first prince." The crowd murmured. "Allow me to introduce to you, Prince Merlin."_

_**X**_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX**

**Well, I guess the secret is out now!**

**I'd love to hear from you guys! :)**


	4. Roommates

**Hello wonderful readers! So very, very sorry for the delay, HUGE American History Tests coming up. Ughh...APUSH...**

**As a quick note, just because the information included was important, if you read Chapter Three the first night it came out, I made a mistake and missed the last few parts of the chapter. So if you missed it go back and read it!**

**Also, thank you for reviews! They put a smile on my face when I read them. :)**

**Lola: :) Ya, Regina still hates Snow for the Daniel incident, but something else happened with her child that only made Regina hate her more. Next question, well, I can't tell you it would ruin the part of the story! Thanks! **

**Marcie Gore: Chapter One: Nope. Chapter Two: Ya, sorry if that bugs you. Chapter Three: ;)**

**As a note, due to part of the content of this chapter, one part will be first person from Jason/Merlin's point of view.**

**Onwards!**

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_Snow carefully closed the door behind her as she quietly walked out into the corridor. It was late into the night, but she couldn't sleep, so she decided to go down to the kitchen to make some hot tea. That always helped her fall asleep. Snow silently walked through the hallways, making the necessary twists and turns to get her to her destination._

_That's when she heard a cry echo through the halls. Snow stopped and cocked her head a little. The cry certainly wasn't one of pain, but it was one of fright, and it was coming from the baby's room. Snow quickened her pace after changing direction. She quickly arrived at a wooden door illuminated by torchlight. The cries were only growing louder as she approached the door. She pushed the door open slowly and peeked her head inside._

_The room was most definitely a child's. There were numerous amounts of toys, stuffed animals, and wooden horses. The walls were painted to resemble a forest scene. In one corner there was a rack of wooden swords and shields, but the child was too young to play with them. In the very center of the room there was a crib, which contained the source of the wailing._

_Snow approached the crib and peered down into it. In it was Merlin, her baby brother, and he was not happy. He let out an ear-piercing shriek and flailed his chubby arms and legs. Snow smiled down at him and hushed him._

"_Shh," she softly sounded as she reached into the crib and picked up the crying baby, "it's alright, Merlin." Snow held him in her arms and slowly rocked him. Merlin continued to cry for a little longer before quieting down. Snow sat down in one of the chairs along the walls and peered down at the baby boy. The now calm child opened its eyes and looked up at the girl. Snow smiled at the sight of his blue-green orbs and ever so gently ran a few fingers through his chocolate-brown locks. He had a full head of hair adorning his head and it curled every-which-way. Snow loved running her hands through his hair, and it was pretty clear that he liked it too. _

_Merlin was about a year old now and had yet to say his first word. Everyone was excited to hear what the young prince's first decree was going to be. Morgana had already said her first word, excitedly shrieking "Bird!" when a blue jay landed right in the middle of the family's picnic. _

_Snow watched him fondly as Merlin yawned adorably and began to close his eyes. She decided to hold him till he fell asleep and then she would put him back in his crib. Snow was pretty sure he was almost asleep when she heard Merlin make a noise. Her eyes widened. The sound was barely audible, it was so quiet that in any other circumstance one would have missed it, but Snow knew without a doubt that she heard it. Snow smiled down at the now asleep Merlin. _

_Snow just heard Merlin say his first word._

"_Snow."_

SB...SB...SB...SB...

**Jason's Point of View**

"_Snow."_

My eyes flew open. I felt cold liquid pooling over my skin, sweat dripping off my bangs. My heart felt like it was beating a million miles per hour. I attempted to swallow, but my mouth and throat were so dry, I couldn't do anything. I panicked.

My body felt heavy, like a large rock was on top of me, pushing me down farther into the bed. I needed to get up. I have to get up. I have to get up!

I wrenched my body upwards, and looked around in panic. My head was pounding. '_Where am I? What am I doing here?'_

_Who _am I?

'_Ok, ok, ok calm down. Why does my head hurt so much? What's my name? Name is a good place to start. J- No! It was an M. My name. It starts with an M. M-Mason? No, no no no that isn't it.' _ I growl and paw at my head. It hurts so much. I growl in frustration and clench my eyes shut.

'_Name. I need a name. What is my name? WHAT IS MY NAME?!' _I fling myself off the bed and end up sprawled on the floor. The carpet is rough against my skin, making me itch.

Suddenly, I wasn't in a bedroom any more. I was now in a forest, the forest was dark and I was lying in a pile of dried leaves. They felt rough and made me want to itch. The trees were so tall, towering high above me. I could see the moon through the foliage of the trees; it was bright and full. One would normally consider it a beautiful sight, but I hated it. The light was so bright and it did the exact opposite of making my head feel any better. The wind was silent and caused my skin to form goose bumps as I shivered. _'How did I get here?'_

I clutch my head as the pain intensified again. The scene dissolved and changed in front of me, the ground falling away from my feet, sending me falling through darkness. Then, out of nowhere, I was in a room, no a nursery. There were stuffed animals everywhere, small, wooden, white rocking horses, and in the center of it all was the trunk of a tree with a masterfully carved wooden door. There was no one in the room. No one but me.

I felt so alone and so in pain. The pounding feeling in my head intensified and turned into a stabbing feeling. I cried out in agony and curled myself into a ball.

I clenched my eyes shut and cried. Why does it hurt so much? Why? What did I do?

When I opened my eyes, I saw two women standing in front of me. I saw two scenes at the same time, one being the bedroom I had awoken in, the other being the nursery. In the bedroom, I saw a blond girl, young, but at least eighteen years old. Her hair was curly and went down behind her back. She was wearing a plain grey t-shirt and some light grey sweatpants that were clearly too big for her. She had hazel eyes in which I could see concern and pain. I saw in them a desire to help without the knowledge of how to do so. I saw a tear run down her face.

In the nursery, I saw a woman who looked a tad bit older than the blond. This woman had black hair that curled down her head and draped over her shoulders, some of it pooling down towards her chest, the rest of it running down her back. She was wearing an elaborate nightgown, one that was pure white but was not in any way see through. Her eyes, much like the blond's, were also a hazel color. They too were filled with the pain and concern that I saw mimicked in the blonds.

I cried harder as the pain in my head intensified. Why won't my head just split open? I clutched my eyes closed again. I started seeing pictures and places whizzing past me. I saw a woman with black hair and brown eyes wearing a black dress. I saw a young girl who also had black hair and brown eyes wearing a dark purple gown. I saw a lamp, then snakes, then blood. I saw a teenage girl running with a chocolate-brown haired boy.

The images were too much. I screamed out in pain, wanting for it to stop so badly. It wasn't until I felt gentle hands running through my hair that I realized that the two women, the blond and the raven headed one, had propped my head onto their lap. Tears continued to flow from my eyes. My head hurts so much.

"Who am I?" I hear myself croak out. I don't know how I said it in between my sobs and screams, but I did.

The blond one smiled sadly at me and told me my name was Jason.

The raven haired one reassured me in a soft voice that it was Merlin.

How can both names sound so right?

I let the two women comfort me, not that I could do anything about it in my condition anyways. It felt so comforting, so loving that I didn't want them to stop. I needed this.

Soon the pain in my head began to dissipate and my eyelids slowly began to close. I mumbled something; the truth.

"I'm scared."

SB...SB...SB...SB...

**Third Person Point of View**

"I'm scared."

Those words absolutely broke Emma's heart. She cradled Jason's head in her arms and silently cried as Jason's blue-green eyes shut. She listened to his now steady, easy breathing and carefully moved Jason's limbs so he was in a more comfortable position.

These episodes were a normal thing with Jason. They happened at the same exact time every month. They occurred on the fifteenth of each month at exactly 11:42 p.m. Emma knew how to get him to fall asleep, when an episode hit, but she had no idea what to do for him during an episode.

Jason's episodes usually involved him crying out with head pains and screaming a word. "Snow." He would scream that word and slip into a state where Emma could tell that his mind wasn't all here. She didn't even know if he knew he was screaming. She hated seeing him in so much pain, but there was nothing she could do about it. Emma continued to run her fingers through his hair before grabbing a pillow and a sheet from off the bed. She draped the sheet over herself and Jason and situated the pillow between her head and the bed frame.

They weren't going to be moving much for the rest of the night.

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

"_Morgana! Wait!" a young voice sounded through the woods as the young prince ran after his sibling. Morgana continued to laugh and run with her friends, either not hearing or pretending not to hear the young prince calling after her. Merlin ran faster in an attempt to catch up with the black-haired girl. "Morgana!" he called again as he began to breath heavy. She and her friends quickly rounded a corner and disappeared into the forest. Merlin ran as fast as he could. "Wait!" he shouted, but when he rounded the same corner that his sister had just disappeared into, he saw no trace of Morgana or her friends._

"_Morgana!" he shouted, his voice raspy from wheezing. Morgana was much more agile than him. She loved running around, climbing trees, and participating in sporty activities. Merlin preferred drawing and reading to these activities. While Morgana would try to see how high she could get before being yelled at, Merlin would hoist himself up onto the first branch, lean back against the tree and read a book. _

_Merlin loved reading about adventures, dragons, knights, damsels in distress, trolls and giants. Today, Morgana had convinced him to come with her and her friends on an adventure. With the young boy's imagination taking charge, he readily agreed. _

"_Morgana!" Merlin shouted a little more worriedly. Morgan knew her way around the forest like the back of her hand. Merlin, however, did not. He looked around his surroundings, and discovered to his dismay that he had no idea where he was. "Morgana..." he mumbled, fear etched in his voice. He heard rustling in bushes behind him. Merlin shrieked and ran towards the closest tree and promptly ran behind it. _

_His mind raced with images of the many possible beasts that could be coming for him. Maybe it was a hungry wolf, or possibly an angry troll, or maybe even a starving baby dragon! Merlin held his breath and peeked around the tree._

_What he saw was not a baby dragon, nor angry troll, or even a hungry wolf. What he did see was his older sister, Snow White, coming out of the bushes. She had on a fur coat and some leather pants, her hands were gloved and a bow and quiver were hanging off her back. She was in her mid-teens. The two of them had grown very close during the few years of the prince's life. He smiled in relief._

_"Merlin?" Snow asked as she approached the boy, "What are you doing out here?" She crouched down in front of the boy, the bow on her back arching slightly when she bent down._

_"We'll, I was following Morgana," Merlin said as he kicked some dirt, "but she and her friends ran ahead and left me behind."_

_Snow scrunched her face. She just didn't understand that girl, how could she not see that her brother wanted to spend time with her? It wasn't the first time Morgana had blown him off, and what made Snow angry is that she remembered hearing her invite Merlin this morning._

_Snow gave the young prince a reassuring smile and took one of his small hands in hers. "Tell you what, why don't we go back to the castle and make some hot cocoa,"_

_Merlin looked up at his older sister with a small grin. "With cinnamon?" he asked her._

_"Of course," Snow reassured him as they started walking back towards their home._

_"Hey Snow?" Merlin asked suddenly._

_"Yes?"_

_A mischievous smile appeared on the boy's face, "Could you teach me how to use a bow?"_

SB...SB...SB...SB...

Jason grinned at Emma across the table. She smiled back at him, but it wasn't one of her regular smiles, it was pained and forced. Jason was trying so hard to take Emma's mind off of what had undoubtedly happened last night. He knew what today was, and he knew that he probably had an episode last night, and he was so sorry to have to put her through that.

Ruby walks over to the two with a grin and two mugs of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon.

"Thanks Ruby," Emma says with a small nod.

Ruby nodded back and was about to turn away before chuckling and turning to the two other teens. "You know," she starts, "it's funny. I never thought anyone else liked cinnamon in their cocoa, but you two proved me wrong." The two teens gave her funny looks and Ruby shook her head. "There's this woman I know, kind of a friend, and she always orders cinnamon in her hot chocolate."

"Really?" Jason asked genuinely surprised. Besides Emma, no one ever liked cinnamon in her hot chocolate. Now that there was someone else, Jason's curiosity had peaked.

"Yup, her name is Mary Margaret," Ruby tells them and pulls the storybook that August had "dropped" yesterday, "and considering I overheard you and Emma talking about giving this book back to August, you just might get to meet her."

"Why's that?" Emma asked while taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Mary Margaret is his teacher," Ruby says while handing the book to Emma. The waitress walks away to go and serve some other patrons while Emma opens the book and begins to flip through it. Jason takes a sip of his hot chocolate. When Emma lets out a small chuckle, Jason gives her a questioning look.

"There is a picture in this book," Emma explains as she flips the storybook around for him to see, "and it has a little boy in it that looks just like you did when were little." Jason took the book from her and studies the picture. In the picture, he saw a small boy with floppy chocolate-brown hair and blue-green eyes. The little boy was peeking around the side of a tree at a teenage girl who was dressed in fur clothing and had a bow and quiver hanging across her back. The picture seemed eerily familiar, but Jason dismissed it and began flipping the pages. What he saw got him a little freaked out. The farther he got into the book, he saw more pictures. He saw pictures of the little boy, only he wasn't so little anymore. He looked like a fairytale character; he wore robes and looked to be teaching a slightly younger male how to use a sword. The boy looked just like him. Suddenly, a jolt caused him to clutch his head.

"_Merlin, if you want to help me practice sword fighting, you need to stop USING MAGIC!" _

Jason snapped out of his daze when the snapping of fingers sounded. Emma withdrew her hand from her friend's face and looked at him worriedly. "You okay?" Emma asked, worry evident in her voice.

Jason shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. "Ya, I'm fine." He turned and made eye contact with Ruby across the room. The waitress came over to their table. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know when school ends do you?" Jason asked.

Ruby looked at her watch. "Umm, yes. It should be ending in about five minutes," she said. "If you leave now, you might be able to catch both August and Mary Margaret."

"Thanks," Jason said while giving Ruby payment for the hot chocolates. "You want to go meet the only other person in the world with our kind of taste?" Jason said, grabbing his backpack and giving Emma a grin. Emma nodded and the two walked out of the diner.

It wasn't long before the two heard the distant ringing of a school bell in the distance. Following the noise, the two teenagers came upon a lovely little school which children were pouring out of.

On the steps was a familiar tuft of red hair that was bounding towards the two teens. "Hey!" August shouted as he darted across the lawn towards Emma and Jason. The two waved to the boy.

"Hello August," Jason smiled at the young boy. Emma pulled the storybook out of Jason's backpack.

"You dropped this yesterday," Emma hands the book back to August who takes it and puts it in his own backpack. He looks at the two teens.

"Did you guys look at it at all?" August asks.

"Somewhat," Emma responds and chuckles. "It's funny; we found a picture that had a little boy who look like Jason use to."

August smiles. "That's because it IS him," the boy explains, pulling the book back out of his backpack and flipping it opened. He turns the book around and shows it to the two teenagers. "Look, tell me that doesn't look like him."

In the picture, the two see two young adults, one maybe about eighteen years old the other in their mid-twenties. The eighteen year old had floppy brown hair that partially covered his right eye. His eyes were the same color as Jason's. In fact, many of the teen's facial features resembled Jason's own. He looked extremely embarrassed. The other young adult in the picture was a woman who had long, curly raven hair. She had hazel eyes and was grinning. The young man was wearing some sort of princely garb while the woman was wearing what looked to be a wedding dress. She was laughing and the two looked to be dancing.

"I'll admit," Jason relents, "that does look like me, but I'm not a fairytale character."

"Yes you are." August says bluntly turning to another page in his book which shows the same boy with his arms crossed in deep thought.

"Fine then, who am I? Jack from Jack and the beanstalk?" Jason asks the boy while crossing his arms.

"Of course not," August replies giving Jason a look that told him he was an idiot, "Jack was a GIRL, you're Merlin."

Emma laughs. "Since when was Jack a girl?"

"Since forever!" August explains. "This world has it messed up! Jack was a girl, not a boy. And Merlin wasn't old yet, he wasn't even twenty!" August groans, "Man, this world is going to make things hard."

The two teens laugh as a woman in her mid-twenties, who very much looked like the woman in the wedding dress in August's book, walks up to the trio. "August," she says as her hazel eyes dart between the boy and the two teenagers, "what are you still doing here."

"Hi, Miss Blanchard," August smiles up at woman with short-cropped black hair. "I'm just talking to Storybrooke's newest citizens."

Mary Margaret gives Emma and Jason a smile, "I knew I hadn't seen you around before, and I remember Ruby telling me something of two new people," she extends a hand towards Emma, "I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard."

Emma takes her hand with a smile. Her eyes widen when she feels a small jolt pass between them. Emma quickly dismisses it as nothing. "My name's Emma Swan," she smiles at the school teacher, "and he's Jason Fay." Jason clutched his eyes shut as a more realistic version of the picture in August's book flashed before his eyes.

In it, he saw himself dressed up like a prince attempting to dance with Mary Margaret, who had longer, curlier hair and was wearing a white wedding dress.

The image was gone as fast as it came, and Jason shook his head and smiled at the teacher. Suddenly a car pulled up. "That's my ride," August says. He starts walking away from the group, but turns back to meet the group. "Can we meet tomorrow? At Granny's?" he asks Emma and Jason. Emma was about to respond when Jason cuts her off.

"Sure, let's say eight o'clock?" Jason says. August grins, spins on his heels and runs off to the car. Emma glares at Jason and he smiles sheepishly. "What?"

Emma shakes her head, "You really want to encourage this fairytale thing?"

Jason just shrugs, "Who are we to take away a kid's imagination?" Emma shrugs.

Mary Margaret lets out a small laugh as the three watch August get in the car. "Yes, August sure has a very creative mind," she says as the two teens look at her, "He came up with this idea that everyone in town is a character from the storybook I gave him." She smiles at the two. "He thinks I'm Snow White."

Jason laughs. "He thinks that I'm Merlin so..."

Mary Margaret laughs and shakes her head. "So are you two planning in staying in Storybrooke?"

Emma nods, "Yes, only we tried looking to see if there was any open housing or apartments, but there don't seem to be any openings anywhere." Emma's voice was solemn; she was truly beginning to like this place.

Mary Margaret thinks for a second before coming to a decision, "Well," she starts, "I do have a spare room in my apartment if you two don't mind sharing."

Both teens gave the woman a strange look. "What?" She asked.

"You would open your home to two teenagers whom you met only minutes ago?" Emma asked.

A light shade of red came upon the teacher's face. "Well, I-I trust you," it was only after she said it that Mary Margaret realized just how strange this sounded.

"Well," Emma thought about the teacher's offer.

"Ems, there kind of isn't any other housing opportunities," Jason pointed out. Emma looked at her best friend who just shrugged.

"Alright, but only of you are sure," Emma tells the school teacher.

Mary Margaret smiled and nodded, genuinely happy that the two accepted for some reason. "Alright," Mary says as she pulls a slip of paper out of her pocket and writes an address down.

"This is my address, I'll be home around five, so you can stop by any time after then," Mary Margaret says as she hands the slip to Jason.

Jason gives Mary Margaret a grin, "Thank you, really."

The teacher smiles back at the two teens as they start heading back to their room at Granny's to collect their things. She shook her head at herself. It truly was ridiculous, letting two complete strangers into her home, but she couldn't help it. She trusted the two teens the moment she laid eyes on them. It was almost like they had met before. A long time ago.

But that was impossible, wasn't it?

_EF...EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_"Ok...Steady...Pull back just a bit more...Elbow up...Steady...Release." Snow's voce gently commands. The young prince releases the arrow, sending it flying through the air, hitting the target with a satisfying thud. _

_"Yes!" Merlin grinned and jumped for joy. The young boy threw his small arms around his older sister. Snow happily returned the embrace. It had taken a while, but after many hours of hard work, concentration, and tantrums, Merlin had successfully been able to_ _HIT the target. "I did it Snow!"_

_"Good job, Merlin!" Snow smiled at the younger boy. "Now we need to just work on your aim a tad bit more and you will be a master archer in no time," Snow said releasing the boy. Merlin grinned up at Snow before returning to the target. Snow watched the boy as he carefully pulled a new arrow out of the small quiver on his back and notched it. He took a deep breath, pulled the string back and lined his sight up, just like Snow had taught him. Snow watched as he held his position, got ready to shoot the arrow, and..._

_"MERLIN!"_

_Merlin jumped and released the arrow, causing it to go flying completely above the target, over the hedge, through an open window and right into the right eye of a portrait of Queen Regina. Merlin flinched and slowly turned around to face the source of the voice; his mother._

_Regina was furious as she walked over to where Merlin and Snow were standing. "What did you think you were doing Merlin?!" Regina almost screamed. _

_Merlin looked at the ground and kicked the dust. "I-I...S-Snow was t-teaching me to shoot a b-bow..." he mumbled._

_Regina turned to Snow giving her a furious glare, "You silly, insolent girl!" Snow flinched. "Do you have ANY idea of how hurt he could have gotten?" Regina shouted at Snow._

_The teen flinched again. "I was watching him the entire time, I would have stopped him from doing anything too dangerous," Snow explains, "I would never let him do anything if I thought he could hurt himself."_

_Regina grew even more furious as she glared at Snow one last time before grabbing Merlin's hand and dragging him towards the door. She pulled the young prince inside. "I don't want you playing with Snow anymore," Regina says to Merlin._

_Merlin's eyes grew wide. "B-But Snow's fun!" Merlin's voice broke as tears threatened to fall._

_Regina grimaced, as much as she hated Snow; she hated seeing her child sad more. "Why don't you play with Morgana?"_

_Merlin pouted, "Morgana doesn't want to play with me, and she left me in the forest today."_

_Regina shook her head, "That's not what Morgana said, she said that you left her to play with Snow."_

_Merlin suddenly grew furious, "She lied!" he shouted as the tears began to fall. "Morgana is lying! Snow's a better sister than her!" he screamed again as he ran out of the room. Regina sighed._

SB...SB...SB...SB...SB...

Regina was furious. She had witnessed the exchange between Mary Margaret, Jason and Emma. She wanted her child nowhere near that woman, but once again that woman is gaining her son's trust. _'How dare she,'_ Regina growled.

She knocked a vase off of her desk in her frustration. Every moment Snow White spent with her son only made her hate Snow White more.

Regina had taken the entirety of the previous evening mulling over the fact that her son had finally arrived in Storybrooke. She had waited for this day for so long, what had surprised her was the blond he had brought with him. She had never seen this girl before.

Was she simply a girl he had become friends with in this world? _'No, that's impossible,' _Regina thought. Nobody who wasn't from the Enchanted Forest could come to Storybrooke.

Regina picked up her phone and dialed a number. After a few rings Regina heard a voice.

"Hello, Graham. I need you to find some information on this Emma Swan."

SB...SB...SB...SB...SB...

Mary Margaret was busy cleaning up her apartment; she wanted everything to look perfect for when her new roommates finally arrived. She grinned when she heard a knock at the door. Mary put down the feather duster and opened the door. She was met by two smiling faces. "Emma, Jason, come in!" Mary Margaret greeted. Emma and Jason slowly walked in, peering around the apartment.

Jason smiled at Mary Margaret. "Thank you so much for letting us use your spare room."

"Oh, it's really no trouble!" Mary smiled sheepishly and gestured to the apartment. "It's not much, but it's home."

Emma looked around the room, "No, it's cozy, I like it," she reassured Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret gestures to the staircase, "Come on, let me show you to your room."

The three go up the stairs to find a small bedroom. It wasn't much. There was a dresser, a closet and a queen sized bed, but other than that, there wasn't much. There was nothing special about the room, but to Emma and Jason, it was the most wonderful sight in the world. "It's perfect," Emma says quietly.

Hearing those words come from this girl, for some reason, made Mary Margaret so unbelievably happy. She smiled at the two teens who were gazing at the room as if they hadn't seen a bed in months. "I'll leave you two alone to get situated," Mary Margaret says as she walks towards the door.

"Mary Margaret," Jason's voice stops her. The teacher turns around to see the brown-haired teen giving her a huge grin. "Thank you."

The teacher returned the grin and quietly left the room.

Once she was downstairs, Mary Margaret made herself a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and situated herself on the couch. She thought about the day's events. Maybe this would be good for her. Mary knew that she wasn't the most social or outgoing person, so maybe having roommates would be a good influence. The edges of her mouth curved upwards as she sipped her hot drink. Maybe these two, Emma Swan and Jason Fay, would be the best decision she ever made.

**Two apologies:**

**First: Again, sorry for such a long delay. I had these huge history tests I had to take, but I'm almost done now, so I should be able to write more soon.**

**Second: Sorry that these first few chapters have been kinda slow. Now that Jason and Emma are all moved in. Operation Get-This-Story-Going shall commence!**


	5. He Wants Us to Read to Coma Patients?

**I want to start off by apologizing for the long period of me not updating. My life has been really hectic lately with finals transitioning directly into my job as a camp counselor. Writing kind of went on the back burner and I really apologize for that. Know that I have the full intention of finishing this story, but this story may become slow to update for a while. **

**So now that Jason and Emma are all moved in, things should start to pick up a little bit more. Now we can start getting to the good part!**

**In repentance I am starting the next chapter right after I post this one.**

SB...SB...SB...SB...SB...

Emma's eyes slowly opened. She could see the oh so simple bed room which was now theirs. A small smile crept onto her face at the thought of finally having somewhat of a home, even if they were only splitting an apartment with a very generous schoolteacher.

It was now that Emma felt a weight across her stomach. She slowly looked down and saw that it was an arm, but it was Jason's not hers. Emma turned her head and blushed when she saw Jason asleep. They were so close, so very, very close.

He was so warm and so comfortable; Emma was having a hard time deciding if she wanted to move or not.

Emma's blush grew as Jason stirred, slowly opening his eyes. He yawned as he shifted and rubbed his eyes with the arm that wasn't holding Emma to his chest. After blinking a few times, Jason realized that he and Emma were only a few centimeters apart. They locked eyes for a second before Jason laughed nervously and quickly removed his arm from Emma's stomach.

Jason felt his face warm up as he quickly rolled off the bed, and promptly fell to the floor with a thud. Emma crawled to the edge of the bed and looked down at Jason who grinned at her. "Hi," Emma said, returning his grin.

"Hi," he returned.

Only a few seconds later, they heard a voice from downstairs, "You two okay up there?" Mary Margaret shouted.

Emma and Jason laughed before Emma shouted in response, "Ya! We're okay!" Jason got off the floor and sat down on the bed. They were silent for a second due to the awkwardness in the air. Jason cleared his voice nervously and looked at the clock. Finding it to be seven o'clock, Jason took off his shirt and began searching for a new one.

Emma's eyes grew wide when she saw the bruises and scars covering the boy's back. Bad memories began to resurface, making Emma shudder.

Jason pulled a clean shirt over his head, one of the few he brought with them, and turned back to look at Emma. Jason realized that Emma must have had terrible thoughts cross her mind due to his injuries. He crawled back onto the bed and pulled Emma into his arms. "Hey," he said softly while wiping a few stray tears from her eyes, "it's alright. No one is going to hurt us here."

Emma relaxed into his embrace and closed her eyes. "I know," she whispered sadly, "it's just..."

"It's alright," he gently moved her chin so she was looking at him; "I won't let anyone hurt you. Not ever again." Emma smiled up at him and slowly pulled away from Jason. He poked her nose and she giggled lightly. "Why don't you go take a shower? We have to meet August in about an hour," Jason said with a smile.

Emma nodded and left to go take a shower. Jason stayed put for a while and stared at the door. "I promise," Jason muttered to himself, "I will never let anyone hurt you, Emma."

_EF...EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_Merlin ran through the halls of the castle, he had to hide, he had to hide now._

_10...11...12...13...14...15_

_The numbers were getting higher, and Merlin was running out of time. He skidded around a corner and darted down the next hall._

_25...26...27...28...29...30_

_Merlin felt his hands get sweaty as he darted up the stairs towards the tower, weaving in and out of servants who were attempting to do their jobs. Many of them either chuckled at the boy's antics or grumbled at his actions, but Merlin didn't care, he had to hide._

_50...51...52...53...54...55_

_'Have to hide!' Merlin looked around the room, finding no more hallways to run down, Merlin began searching the room for a good hiding place. Many crates were stacked on top of each other. Merlin was in one of the castle's storage rooms._

_75...76...77...78...79...80_

_Merlin was running out of time, he had to find a place to hide, now. Merlin climbed up onto a crate and wrenched it open, finding a shipment of what looked like cotton. He grinned to himself and buried himself inside the cotton and shut the lid of the crate. This might have been the best hiding spot he had ever come up with. _

_95...96...97...98...99...100!_

_Time was up, but Merlin was well hidden and he had faith that his sneaking abilities would keep him safe. He had to stay safe, he had to stay hidden. Merlin took deep breaths in order to calm his racing pulse. Merlin waited. _

_After a few minutes, Merlin heard footsteps echoing down the stair case. He silenced his breathing as the footsteps grew louder. "Merlin?" he heard a young voice. This was it, the moment of truth. He hoped he had finally found a good hiding spot. The footsteps grew louder as they approached the crate. "Merlin?" the voice drawled out, Merlin held his breath as the young voice giggled. Merlin heard some shifting of boxes and he held his breath._

_When things quieted down, Merlin started breathing again. He grinned as he heard the footsteps get farther and farther away from his crate. _

_"You can't hide from your twin forever, Merlin!" Morgana yelled as she started out of the room. "I will, find you, and I will win this game!" _

_Merlin snickered when he heard Morgana leave the room. He had won. For the first time, he had finally beaten his twin! Merlin was about to exit his crate when the lid was quickly removed and Merlin yelped in surprise. Blinking away the spots of light in his vision, Merlin looked up to find a head of black hair and two happy brown eyes smiling down at him. "Found you!" Morgana said happily as she offered Merlin her hand which he solemnly took. Once he disentangled himself from the cotton, Merlin huffed in defeat. _

_"You always beat me; let's play a different game," Merlin grumbled as Morgana laughed cheerfully._

_"Alright, what game?" Morgana asks and sits on a smaller crate. _

_"I don't know, let's make something up!" Merlin grins. He was the one who was more creative, so this should be much more fun for him._

_Morgana smiles at him, "Alright, what the plan?" she asks him, swinging her legs off the side of the crate._

_Merlin's young mind is already planning out the scene in his head. "So we are in the midst of the Ogre Wars and war does not seem to be going well for the kingdoms of man," Merlin starts setting the scene, narrating the story that is playing out in his head. Morgana stops kicking and begins watching him intently; she always loved it when Merlin starts telling stories. "The ogres, ferocious, ugly creatures, mind you, are slaughtering every soldier we throw at them." Merlin grins and hops up onto a nearby crate. "The King knows not what to do. He doesn't want to continue the bloodshed that the ogre's are causing. He needs soldiers who can fight the ogres, he needs to find soldiers who know how to bring the enemy to their knees, he needs soldiers," Merlin pauses for dramatic effect and stares wide eyed at Morgana who is listening intently, "who have magic." Merlin waves his arms and wiggles his fingers, making Morgana giggle. "He searches the land for those with magical properties, those who can throw flames, move objects with their mind, and create weapons with their minds. Most importantly, he searches for those who can help protect his soldiers." As Merlin described the properties, he acted out each form of magic. _

_"Did he find anyone?" Morgana asks Merlin with a large grin._

_"Well, dear sister, the King searched long and hard, never ceasing to look for magic wielders. He thought his search for naught until he found someone. Two someones to be exact. He found a young boy and girl. Neither older than ten years of age, but it didn't matter. He needed them, the Kingdom needed them." Merlin explains. "The King took them back to the castle and began to hone their abilities, making them stronger, faster and more intelligent than any soldier that ever existed. Meanwhile, the Ogre's were advancing, getting closer and closer to the Kingdom. On the children's tenth birthday, the boy and the girl were sent into battle to change the tide of the war, and that, dear sister, is where our story begins." Merlin says with a grin, dashing out into the hallway pointing an imaginary sword. Morgana giggles and followed him with equal speed and enthusiasm._

_The two dashed down the tower and began weaving in and out of the servants, pretending they were other soldiers. The two skidded around a corner and Merlin stuck out his arm and raised a fist in a "hold position," fashion. Morgana nodded and Merlin quietly and slowly crept ahead. Suddenly Merlin flung himself to the floor and towards his left. "Ogre!" Merlin shouted. Morgana pretended to summon a protective barrier around Merlin. He nodded to her in thanks and got up. Merlin stuck out his hand and threw a "fireball" at the beast. In his mind, it hissed and drew back from the flames. Morgana sliced at the beast with an imaginary sword and the two continued their battle against the imaginary beast. Merlin dodged to the side and threw the final blow at the "Ogre."_

_"We did it," Morgana grinned. Merlin shook his head._

_"No, there are still more out there and we need to stop them," Merlin told her and pointed towards the hall. Morgana nodded and the two ran down the hall. Halfway down, Merlin "tripped" and dragged Morgana down with him. "Ugh, we must have fallen into a snake pit!" Merlin exclaimed while Morgana rolled her eyes. _

_"Where are they?" she asked._

_Merlin closed his eyes and pictured a cave like area. The walls were rocky and covered in small tunnels. Using his imagination, Merlin pictured a snake slithering its way out of one of the tunnels. The snake was black with red and yellow rings. Merlin heard Morgana shriek, she must have used her imagination too. The snake slowly slithered towards the boy, hissing at him. "Merlin!" Morgana shouted. Merlin looked back at Morgana, who was fearfully backing up. Merlin looked back to where his "snake" should have been, only to find that there truly was a snake that looked exactly like the one in his mind! _

_Merlin yelped as the black snake slithered towards him and hissed once again. Merlin spun around, grabbed Morgana's hand and started sprinting down the hall away from the snake. _

_Rounding a corner, Merlin smacked into a guard. "Help us!" the two children cried out and darted behind the guard. The guard saw the snake slithering across the floor and towards the kids, hissing at them. He quickly drew his sword and cut the head off of the serpent. _

"_How did a snake get in here?" the guard muttered to himself. "Those darn kids must have let it in."_

_Morgana and Merlin shared a glance as they watched the guard walk away. "Morgana," Merlin asked, "where did that snake come from?"_

_Morgana shrugged her shoulders and shuttered, "I don't know, you said something about a snake pit, shut your eyes and the snake just appeared!" She exclaimed. She glances at Merlin with wide eyes, "It was almost like magic."_

SB...SB...SB...SB...

"So, what exactly do we need to know?" Jason asked August across the table at Granny's while sipping a hot chocolate. "You know, about the curse and stuff?"

August flips open his book and skim a few pages until he reaches a picture of an older woman with black hair in a black dress with purple smoke surrounding her. "You see this woman?" August asks the two while showing the book to the two teens. "She's Regina, the Evil Queen, and she's your mother," August said, pointing at Jason. Jason's feature's darkened for a moment before he shook his head.

Emma pulled the book towards her and examined the picture. "Hey," she shows the picture to Jason, "isn't that the woman you spilt hot chocolate on?"

"Ya," Jason agreed. He turned to August who was watching them intently, "Isn't she the mayor?"

The boy nodded, his curly hair bouncing slightly. "Ya, when the Evil Queen enacted the curse, she made herself the mayor,"

Emma nodded her head slightly, showing that she understood the notion. "I guess that would make sense."

Jason took the book from Emma and started to flip through a few pages, "So if everyone in this town is a storybook character, how come no one remembers."

August sips his own drink, "That's the tricky part; the curse also caused everyone else to forget who they are."

Emma nods slightly, "Uh huh."

"But, wait," Jason asks, "If both Emma and I are in the book and we didn't come to Storybrooke, how do we fit in?"

August grins, "That's because you and Emma went through a magic wardrobe which sent you to this world safe from the curse." August explains.

The two teens nodded and took a sip of their drinks. Jason flipped through some pages until he reached a picture. In the image, Jason saw a picture of a boy who looked like he did when he was young who was dancing awkwardly with a girl with black hair in a purple dress.

"Who's this?" Emma asked looking over at the picture.

"That's Morgana," August turns to Jason and gives him a small smile, "She's your sister."

"Wait, what?" Jason said, giving August a funny look. The redhead laughed at Jason's expression. "Trust me kid, I know I don't have a sister," Jason said.

August's expression turned more serious. "You do," August said, "and you care for her a lot, even though you are on opposite sides."

"Opposite sides?" Emma asked, her eyebrow arching up slightly.

August nodded, "When the fight broke out between Snow White and the Evil Queen, Jason sided with Snow while Morgana sided with Regina."

"Question," Jason said, "why did I side against my so-called mother?"

"You saw something," August explained, "that made you... disagree with her."

"Uh-huh," Jason said. "So, where is Morgana? Is she in Storybrooke?"

"Ya, but..." August trailed off.

"What?" Emma asked, noticing the boy's lack of attention.

"It's probably better if you see for yourself," August says quietly.

_EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_Merlin grumbled under his breath. "Stupid ball, stupid, stupid!" He grumbled as the servants helped him get dressed up. He hated wearing these itchy, tight dress clothes. He hated being forced to dance. He hated having to be nice to all of the noble people while all he wanted to do was either retreat into the library and read a book or practice his archery. Most of all, he hated all the silly girls his parents forced him to attempt to make friends with._

_The only women Merlin wanted to be around were his sisters and his mother. He couldn't care less for the silly little girls in their way too fluffy dresses and their strange obsession with dancing. What did they find so intriguing about awkwardly stumbling around with another person?_

_"You almost ready, Merlin?" Morgana asked from the doorway to his room. When Merlin tried to turn his head to see his twin, one of the servants glared at him and, forcefully, turned his head so it was facing forward._

"_Almost, I hope," Merlin grumbled as Morgana walked in and walked in front of him so they could make eye contact. Morgana was wearing a purple gown that was, in Merlin's eyes, way too sparkly. "Seriously?" he gave her a look._

"_What?" Morgana laughed, "I think I look pretty!"_

"_I never said you didn't," Merlin clarified, "it's just that dress, how many sparkles does one need?" Merlin raised his arms so the servants could check to make sure his suit was on correctly. He gave them a hopeful look. Rolling their eyes, the servants nodded and in the blink of an eye, Merlin was dashing for the door. Morgana rolled her eyes at her brother's antics and followed him out. _

_After leaving the bedroom, the two children made their way towards the ballroom. Merlin attempted to take the less crowded route, wanting as few people to see him dressed in princely garb as possible. Unfortunately for him, Morgana intertwined their arms and dragged the boy through all of the main hallways. The guests watched in amusement as Morgana practically dragged the struggling prince towards the ornate doors of the ballroom. _

_Once they reached the doors the two came to a halt. Morgana looked at Merlin expectantly while the boy just stood there awkwardly. "Well?" Morgana said._

"_Well what?" Merlin asked as his sister watched him._

"_Aren't you going to escort me in?" Morgana asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world._

"_Didn't I just 'escort' you all the way here?" Merlin whined._

_Morgana scoffed, "Oh please," she said waving her hand, "I practically escorted YOU here. The least you can do is escort me inside."_

"_No way Morgana," Merlin replied._

"_Please, Merlin?" she asked, changing tactics._

"_No, Morgana." Merlin said again, and crossed his arms, "I am not escorting you inside."_

"_Pleeeaase?"_

"_No."_

"_Meeeeeerrrrliiiiiin!"_

"_No, Morgana!"_

"_Pretty please?" the young princess asked, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout, giving her brother the puppy dog face._

_Merlin grumbled and sighed in defeat, bending his arm. Morgana squealed in glee and attached herself to her brother's arm. Morgana lead him into the ballroom. Merlin inwardly groaned at all the "Oh look how cute they are!"'s and the "Don't they just look adorable?"'s. When the two reached the table with their parents and Snow already seated, Morgana detached herself from his arm and took her seat, giving him a grin. Merlin grumbled as he took his seat next to Snow. _

_The older girl was barely containing her laughter. "That...that was very princely-" Snow started._

"_Not. One. Word." Merlin hissed, causing Snow to lose control and break out into a fit of laughter._

SB...SB...SB...SB...

Jason and Emma entered the hospital. August had left to attend to other "important matters" as he had described them. He had instructed them to go to the hospital and visit two patients; one was a John Doe, a man in a coma who August believed to be Prince Charming. The other was Alexis Mills, a girl who had been injured while in the forest. August informed the two teens that Alexis was Morgana. Considering that the two teens also needed to get into the apartment and Mary Margaret was the only one with a key, they obliged.

The two walked into the section of the hospital where many of the patients were living. The room was all decorated by arts and crafts. The two recalled Mary Margaret saying something about her class volunteering at the hospital yesterday, they must have made some crafts with the patients.

Mary Margaret walked into the room, looking through some papers on a clipboard. She smiled when she saw the two teens. "Hey," she greeted the two, "what are you two doing here?"

"Oh, you know," Emma replied shrugging her shoulders, "appeasing a kid while asking for the apartment key."

"August?" Mary Margaret asked as she flipped through some papers on her clipboard.

"Yup," Emma laughed as Jason wandered off and started conversing with some of the bored looking patients. Emma smiled as she watched him form a grin as he makes an elderly woman in a wheelchair laugh.

"He's quite the social one isn't he?" Emma turns to see Mary Margaret also watching the chatty brown haired boy.

Emma nods. "Ya, Jason has always been the social one, he loves people, especially kids," Emma smiles as she turns her attention back to Jason. "When we were in the system, he was always trying to get me to be more open, trying to get me to make friends with our foster sibling if we had any." Emma shakes her head when she realizes she is telling more about herself than she would like. "Why am I even telling you this?"

Mary Margaret seems taken off guard; she stutters a bit as she says, "Maybe for the same reason I let you into my house?"

Emma nods and turns back to Jason as he approaches, "Hey, making friends?"

Jason grins as he shrugs, "Well, you know me." He turns to Mary Margaret. "Hey, so August wanted us to meet one Alexis Mills and a John Doe. Would we be able to see them?"

"Sure," she replies and leads them down the aisle of patients towards a glass room. "This is where we treat the coma patients," she explains. They open the door and walk into the room.

Inside were two beds, on opposite sides of the room. In one bed was a man with short dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid-twenties to very early thirties. On his wrist was a plastic wristband that had the words "JOHN DOE" printed on it. In the other bed was a girl around eighteen years of age. She had black hair and, according to her patient tag attached to her wrist, brown eyes. On her right wrist was a wristband similar to the John Doe's, but instead had the words "Alexis Mills" printed on it.

"They're coma patients?" Emma asks Mary Margaret as they walk over towards the John Doe while Jason walks over towards Alexis.

"Yes," Mary Margaret says sadly. "Alexis is the mayor's daughter, she was hurt while out hiking in the woods around Storybrooke. Graham found her unconscious after Mayor Mills reported her missing." she explains. "It's a terrible thing, so young and such a good girl. Very bright too."

Jason looks stares at the teenage girl lying in the bed unconscious. He couldn't explain it, but he had a sudden feeling of guilt wash over him. He feels pain and anger as he gazes at Alexis's face. Jason spins around quickly when he hears something whizz through the air and tear through cloth.

'_I won't let go, I promise!'_

Jason looks over his shoulder to see the source of the voice, only to find nothing. He shakes his head. _'Something is seriously weird about this place.'_ He thinks running his hands over his face before walking over to the John Doe. "What happened to him?" he asks Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret shrugs, "No one knows, he's been here for as long as I can remember." A wave of sadness passes over Mary Margaret's face before she sighs and turns around. "Come on," she says heading towards the door, "we probably shouldn't be in here." The two teens nodded, took one last glance at the patients, and followed the schoolteacher out.

SB...SB...SB...SB...

August rushed to catch up with Emma as she exited the apartment and begins walking towards Granny's. "Emma!" He grins as he falls in step besides her.

Emma smiles at the young boy, "Hey, kid, what's up?"

"Did you guys go to the hospital yet?" the redhead asks anxiously as they cross the street towards the diner.

Emma nods as she and August enter the diner. They quickly spot Jason who was sitting at a booth already. He smiled and waved them over. "Hey Ems! Hey August!" he greets.

August smiles and scoots into the spot next to Jason while Emma sits down across from the two boys. "So I was thinking..." August starts.

"Mmhmm?" Jason hums.

August gets a mischievous look in his eyes. "I think we need a codename for what we're doing."

"What exactly are we doing?" Emma asks.

"Breaking the curse!" August says with the same tone one would use when saying 'duh.'

"Ya, Emma," Jason says teasingly, "keep up with the program."

Emma gives him a mock glare before returning her gaze to August. "What did you have in mind, kid?"

August shrugs his shoulders as he thinks. "I don't know yet, something that has nothing to do with magic. Something like Operation...Operation-"

"Overlord!" Jason blurts out with a half grin.

Emma smacks him over the head, "We are not naming it after the D-Day invasion."

August looks at them, confusion written on his face, before shrugging. "How about Cobra?"

"Operation Cobra?" Emma repeats. "Why Cobra?"

Augusts shrugs his shoulders. "Because the Cobra isn't a fairy tale animal and it has nothing to do with magic! That way no one will know what we are up to!" August beams at his own streak of brilliance. "So first order of business," August declares, "recap on how much I have already told you about the curse, go!"

"Umm, I'm the Saviour," Emma stammers, "daughter of Snow White a Prince Charming sent here through a magic tree-"

"Wardrobe," August corrects.

"Right, through a magic wardrobe to protect me from the curse so I could eventually come here and break it." Emma finishes.

"Correct. Jason, you're up." August turns to the male teenager.

"I'm Merlin, son of the Evil Queen/Regina Mills, brother of Morgan le Fay and Snow White, also known as Alexis Mills and Mary Margaret Blanchard." Jason jogs his memory, "Oh! And I sent myself through the wardrobe to protect Emma."

August nods to tell them they did a good job. "Alright so I already have an idea of how we can get Operation Cobra rolling!"

SB...SB...SB...SB...

"He wants us to read to coma patients?" Mary Margaret asks Jason as she hands him a glass of hot cocoa later that evening.

Jason takes a sip of his hot chocolate. "He seems to think that it will help remind Alexis and John Doe who they were and help them wake up."

Mary lets out a small chuckle, "And who does he think they were?"

"Morgan le Fay and Prince Charming," Jason replies.

Mary Margaret nods in realization, "And if he thinks I'm Snow White and you're Merlin..."

"Then he thinks that you and he are meant to be." Jason finishes. "August has a very...active imagination. If we could play along, maybe we could show him..."

"That the fairytales are just that. That there is no such thing as first kiss or love at first sight." Mary Margaret finishes his sentence.

"Exactly." Jason says as Emma sits down on a stool and gratefully takes her on mug. She brushes a few strands of wet hair out of her face.

"Have a nice shower?" Mary asks.

Emma glares at Jason as she sips her mug, "It would have been better if someone hadn't used all the hot water."

Jason grins sheepishly and pats Emma's back. "Sorry. Well sorry to run, Em's but Mary and I have a double date we have to get ready for." Jason says with a wink, causing Emma to laugh.

"Yup, guess we are going to have to do most of the talking." Mary jokes as she and Jason grab their coats.

SB...SB...SB...SB...SB...

"Hey," Jason says awkwardly as he sits down in the empty chair next to Alexis Mills' hospital bed. His eyes scan her face, looking for any kind of sign that she realized someone was there, even though he knew it was very unlikely.

"Alright look," Jason says while scratching the back of his head, "I know that you don't know who I am, and this is probably a bit odd, but just listen. I'm just doing this for a friend." He looks over at Mary Margaret who is starting to read the book August gave them to the John Doe. He sighs and takes out the photocopied pages. He looks over them quick before giving Alexis a small smile, "Here we go." Jason lets out a short hum before beginning to read.

"'The wardrobe,' Snow White mutters in realization as she looks up at Prince Charming, 'it only takes two infants,'"

_EF...EF...EF...EF...EF..._

_Prince Charming and Snow White turned their heads to the door as the heard shouting and the clashing of swords. Snow held Emma just a bit closer to her. They hear a thud against the door and some yelps. The Prince draws his sword and takes a position at the door. More clashing swords and thuds are heard before the door begins to open._

_Charming almost skewers Merlin, who has to quickly parry the Prince. "Careful!" the teen exclaims as he ducks in the room. "I did it, the potion is finished," Merlin says hurriedly, "We have to move, now."_

_Snow and Charming share a pained look. The time had come. Emma had to be saved. Snow cried as she kissed her child on the head. "Goodbye, Emma," she muttered as she handed her baby to Merlin. "You protect her," she says between sobs. "Merlin, you make sure she is safe, you bring her back to us." _

_Merlin kissed Snow's forehead as she embraced him. "I swear, Snow, that I will never let anyone hurt her, I'll protect her with my life." He retracted himself from her arms, allowing Charming and Snow to exchange tears goodbye's and I-will-always-find-you's._

_Merlin placed a hand on the Prince's shoulder, "It's time to go." Charming nodded and gave his wife one last kiss. _

_He and Merlin took Emma out of the room and into the hall just in time to watch a guard being killed by a small group of the Evil Queen's knights. Merlin stuck out a hand that wasn't holding Emma and gripped the small group of knights. Swinging his arm, he launched them up towards the ceiling and rendered them unconscious. He nodded to Charming and they began to rush for the door to Emma's would be nursery. _

_Charming began opening the door, when a blade whooshed right over his shoulder and sliced it. Merlin spun around and saw the last person he wanted to see standing in front of one of the tower's many stain glass windows. There was a small smirk on her lips, yet her brown eyes contained hurt and slight betrayal. Merlin grimaced when he saw her._

_Morgana._

_The one whom he had cared for as a child. The one who had been one of his best friend's growing up before they had chosen opposite sides of the battle. The one whom he had prayed he would not have to face before the end of the war._

_The one he still cared for._

_"Charming," Merlin whispered, gently passing the small child in his arms to the Prince, "Go, and make sure she gets through." Charming nods as he takes his daughter with his uninjured arm and slips into the room leaving Merlin to face his sister._

"_I would just move out of the way, Merlin," Morgana muttered to her brother, "you cannot protect the child."_

_Merlin glared at his sister for a few moments, but his eyes soon softened and he gazed sadly at his sister, "Morgana, you know I will not betray them."_

"_You betrayed us!" Morgana snarled. "You betrayed your own family!"_

"_They are part of my family!" Merlin countered, his voice rising. "Snow has done nothing wrong!" He saw Morgana's eyes begin to burn with anger. Before he could react, he was sent spiraling into the wall. He groaned as he sat up at look at his sister._

"_Snow White has turned you against your own relatives by blood." Morgana stated angrily as she summoned a ball of fire into her hand._

"_Our mother turned me against my kindred," Merlin muttered. At this statement, Morgana growled and threw the ball of fire. Merlin easily caught the crackling, magical flame and extinguished it. "I do not wish to fight you, Morgana," Merlin warned his sister, his features becoming menacing and serious, "but I will not allow you to harm the child!" Merlin drew his sword from its sheath as he stood and took a defensive stance in front of the nursery door._

_Morgana growled in rage as she drew a sword from under her cloak. She charged at her brother who quickly parried her attack and thrust his hand out, sending Morgana reeling back._

_Morgana, who quickly recovered from the attack, threw her sword and guided it through magic. Merlin quickly used his own blade to swat away the projectile. Merlin glanced around the hall and found the walls to be lined with decorative weaponry. Dropping his sword and curling his fingers into a fist, he willed the weaponry to fly at his sister._

_He knew that she would easily be able to deflect the blows. He was only attempting to stall his sister. He could not bring himself to kill her; she was still his sister, his Morgana, and he still cared for her._

_Morgana swiftly ducked her head and stuck her palms out in front of herself, creating an invisible barrier that deflected all incoming projectiles. Due to the pure force of the blast, Morgana's feet were not able to completely keep traction, so she was slightly pushed closer to the window. When the last weapon was sent askew, Morgana dropped the barrier. _

_The two proceeded to trade blows, though they countered everything they threw at each other. Fires were ignited and quickly extinguished. Winds howled into existence but were swiftly silenced. Blades clashed and brute force was used, but neither twin gained the upper hand. _

_Merlin knew he needed to end the fighting. The curse was almost upon them, and he had to protect the baby Emma. Morgana swiped at him with a sword she had picked up, and Merlin quickly ducked to avoid decapitation. While still crouching, Merlin quickly jutted out both arms and willed a blast of energy to send his sister tumbling backwards. By the time Merlin realized that Morgana had her back to the window, it was too late._

_Merlin's eyes grew wide as he saw the glass shatter from the force that had not hit Morgana while the remnants of it caused his sister to tumble out the window. "Morgana!" he shouted, suddenly becoming extremely afraid for his twin. Merlin quickly scrambled to the edge of the window, looking down. What he saw almost made his heart stop._

_There, less than a yard but more than an arm's length down, he saw Morgana clinging onto a brick along the side of the castle. Her feet were dangling high above the ground; a fall would most likely be fatal. _

"_Morgana!" Merlin calls as he quickly drops his arm out the window in an attempt to reach his sister, "Take my hand!"_

"_Why?" Morgana shouts up at him. "Why should I trust you when you betrayed your family?" She lets out a scream as the brick crumbles a bit. Merlin's heart begins to pound and the sound of battle reaches his ears: the clashing of swords, the cries of soldiers, the whizzing of arrows, and the whooshing of the ever approaching curse. Arrows clatter against the side of the castle, some getting dangerously close to the twins. _

"_Because I'm your brother!" he shouts in response. "Because no matter what side of the fighting we are on, you will always be my sister!" Tears begin to fill his eyes. "Morgana, you are my sister and I will always care for you." Merlin screams as he stretches his arm down further. He was so close, he could almost touch her hand, but he needed Morgana to trust him and grasp his hand. "You're my sister, now stop being so stupid and take my hand!"_

_Morgan looked at him for a moment, almost as if she was trying to understand what his words meant. Making her decision, Morgana quickly let go of the brick with her right hand and stretched her arm, grasping Merlin's outstretched hand. As soon as she did, the brick she had been holding onto crumbled away. "Merlin!" she screamed in terror, "don't let go!"_

"_I won't let go! I promise!" Merlin shouted in response as he pulled with all of his might. Slowly but surely, Morgana was hoisted up towards the window. Merlin was so sure he was going to save her. He was almost certain. He was absolutely positive that he would save his sister. Then he heard the sound of clothes and flesh tearing._

_Morgana's back had been pierced by an arrow._

"_Morgana!" Merlin screamed in terror as he heard her scream in agony and felt her grip loosen. "No!" He screamed in horror as he felt her hand slip from his and watched her plummet down and disappears into the magical, purple mist. "No! Morgana!" he screamed again and again. Merlin soon broke down into fits of sobs._

"_I'm sorry, Morgana! I'm so, so sorry."_

_Merlin felt his shoulder being shaken and he quickly spun around, his vision blurry from the tears that were pooling in his eyes._

"_Merlin!" Prince Charming said when Merlin faced him. Merlin saw no sight of Emma, but his thoughts were elsewhere. "It's now or never Merlin!" Prince Charming exclaimed with a hint of worry in his voice. _

"_Is she through?" Merlin choked out between his sobs._

"_Emma's through the wardrobe, but now we have to get you through." Charming affirmed his question._

"_No, is Morgana through? Do you think she is in the cursed world?" Merlin corrected as he stood up and pulled a vial of glowing blue liquid from his coat pocket. _

_Charming remained quiet, not knowing what to tell the crying teenager. He quickly led Merlin to the nursery and locked the door behind them. "What do I need to do?" He asked the teen._

_Merlin took a few moments to clear his head. He rubbed the tears from his eyes, knowing that the only way to know if Morgana was still alive was to reach the other world. "After I take the potion," Merlin explained, "its effects will take a hold of me almost instantaneously." Merlin looked the Prince in the eyes. "I need you to place me in the wardrobe when it does." _

_Charming nodded as he watched Merlin take off the cap of the vial. I stared at the glowing, blue liquid for a few moments before he brought it to his lips. _

"_I'll see you soon," Merlin whispered before downing every last drop of the potion._

_He couldn't decide if he was talking to Emma or Morgana before he lost consciousness_

SB...SB...SB...SB...SB...

"'I'll see you soon,' Merlin whispered as he drank every last drop of the potion," Jason read out loud. August had chosen this story to be the one the Jason read to Alexis. August had said that it was the most emotional moment for both of them before the curse hit and that this event would be the easiest for them both to remember.

Jason would have been lying if he had said the story hadn't been impactful to him. The story had truly moved him and he had been engrossed in it the entire time he had been reading it.

Then he felt it. He glanced down quickly and saw that a hand had grasped his wrist. He followed the hand to its owner and he stared in shock. There, staring at him with brown eyes wide in awe was Alexis Mills. Merlin's jaw dropped slightly as she muttered only one word.

"Merlin?"


End file.
